What do you use for nest box bedding?

[thndrdancr]

Are pine shavings ok or do they kick all those out? My chickens seem to think they are for eating! I dont have hay or straw, but do have shavings.

So what all do you use?

Thanks much
Jill

 

[barg]

Hmm no pics in this post either... guess ill answer it anyway.
As you know, my chickens are not laying yet, but I do have pine shavings in the nest boxes.

The nest boxes have always been available to them but they dont sleep in them and they dont go in them except to check them out occasionally, and Hazel went in one when she was hurt , which is how I knew she was hurt in the first place.

Still looking for those pics

(now someone besides me has to answer cause my answer does'nt count)

 

[V Chic Chick]

I use shavings, and have a strip of wood to keep them from being kicked out. I have also seen shredded newspaper being used (it's recycling!), also with a strip of wood.

 

[Gracefulspice]

I use pine shaving also. I use pine shavings for eveything. Floor and nest boxes. However I add another handful of shavings to the nestbox they use every 2 to 3 days. For some reason when my one girl lays she like to go around in circles scratching the shaving out from under her. It's a wood bottom, I don't want the egg to break so I add more when I see it's bare on the bottom. I just grab a handful or 2 from the floor and toss it up there.

 

[justusnak]

I use straw....In my area it is alot cheaper, and I use straw for everything. Nest boxes....flooring...of course, we have 5 coops, and it is much cheaper for us.

 

[lurky]

I, being new to this, bought both straw and shavings. Now, 14 weeks into this i am in the process of eliminating all the straw. I find it so much easier to use shavings and i have a feeling that the chickens feel the same. Cleaning will be easier too

 

[mom'sfolly]

My nest boxes are lined with that coconut fiber material for hanging baskets. The girls picked that on their own. I have a greenhouse/shed that the girls have access to, and I found my first eggs there, on a coconut fiber planter. I shut the shed, moved th nesting material, and now they lay in the next boxes, except for one who prefers a pile of leaves outside the coop.

 

[silkiechicken]

I use straw and free field grass from Halloween leftovers from the supermarket. Pine shavings are expensive here... well so is the straw, but it's less so than the shavings.

 

[Poison Ivy]

I just use some of the coastal hay from the roll I get for our horse.

 

[crossbeak]

I have used both hay and shavings. I find using shavings its easier to clean up.

Lee