What is the best bedding for coops?

[mamatink7]

What is deep liter?

it is great for less cleaning, almost like you are creating a compost. im still learning and reading up on it but several ladies here vouch for it only. some are 4 inch deep and others are deeper. i believe the bedding is the normal pine shavings.

http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2013/10/the-deep-litter-method-of-waste.html

http://www.communitychickens.com/using-the-deep-litter-method-in-the-chicken-coop/

http://naturalchickenkeeping.blogspot.com/p/deep-litter-method.html

 

[ChickenGrass]

Ok
Thanks for that

 

[Donna R Raybon]

I use peat moss. Put down at least four inches. The more the better. My coop has wood floor and is about eight by ten. I throw down some grain if I notice poop build up. Chickens scratch around and poop gets tilled in. Most important to have good ventilation to prevent bedding having moisture build up. With about thirty chickens I cle. With peat moss there is no smell at all.an out coop about four times a year. My birds free range unless snow is on the ground.

 

[MeepBeep]

Washed and strained river sand. Its natural gritt too for the chickens.

Assuming the sand is also a mix of pea sized chunks, anything smaller than say 1/4" is mostly useless as grit for adult standard sized chickens as it passes right through and doesn't get stuck in the gizzard...

 

[csaylorchickens]

Assuming the sand is also a mix of pea sized chunks, anything smaller than say 1/4" is mostly useless as grit for adult standard sized chickens as it passes right through and doesn't get stuck in the gizzard...

Yes it has a mix of large pebbles and small so it it nice

 

[BruceAZ]

FYI I read up that Pine shavings absorb the nitrogen from the chicken coop so it makes the poop less effective for composting i used my chicken this spring and found this to be true

all wood shavings will absorb the nitrogen from the soil or the manure.. but after breaking down it will release the nitrogen back into the soil or compost again

which is why it's best to put the pine shavings with manure in the compost bin .. to allow it to decompose before putting it in your garden

fresh manure will burn your plants.. plus i would worry about salmonella .. especially with your veggies

 

[mamatink7]

I use peat moss. Put down at least four inches. The more the better. My coop has wood floor and is about eight by ten. I throw down some grain if I notice poop build up. Chickens scratch around and poop gets tilled in. Most important to have good ventilation to prevent bedding having moisture build up. With about thirty chickens I cle. With peat moss there is no smell at all.an out coop about four times a year. My birds free range unless snow is on the ground.

hmm never thought peat moss. Good idea. Thx

 

[saulsx]

Washed and strained river sand. Its natural gritt too for the chickens. Just use a kitty.litter scoop and scoop it out everyday off poop boards and once a week in the run.

Pine shavings in the coop would be fine.

I'd look into lining the floor with linoleum, adding poop shelves that can easily be scraped off with a cheap putty knife, and possibly using sand in the coop. That way, you can spend a few minutes a day with a kitty litter scoop, or a shovel or trowel, put the waste into a bucket, toss the contents of the bucket into a pile with leaves and grass clippings, turn and water the pile once in a while, and give it a good 6 months to a year before using it in the garden. If you can, give your chickens access to the compost pile(s). They'll turn it over and get some extra nutrients. When you do your deep cleaning, the lino should make it easier to clean, and you should be able to wash, dry, and re-use the sand you remove from the coop to clean it out. A lot of work on the front and back ends since you'd have to haul the sand and shovel it in and out of the coop, I'd imagine.

The deep litter method might work well for you, too, which is what I'd probably do if we had 20 chickens and a larger coop.

For us, we only have 4 and we're using a tractor for the time being. The coop floor is lined with linoleum. No problems with the chicks slipping. We're using shredded paper as bedding since it's free and always available to us, and wheat straw in the nesting boxes since it's cheap and we almost always have a few bales on hand for other purposes.

My son and I spend about 5 minutes each morning removing the soiled clumps and putting it into a bucket that gets dumped onto a compost pile. We top off with new paper when needed and plan on replacing the bedding/straw and giving the whole coop a good wipe down once a week. Chicks are fine. Haven't noticed any smell beyond that normal chicken smell, and the slight sweetness of the straw, and we toss in a handful of mint leaves sometimes.

I did see somewhere that somebody used chopped cardboard for bedding, which has me intrigued.

 

[berettp]

I like the sand idea can you use cat litter as a substitute or will this be harmful. I am using hay on top of pine shavings should I be concerned with mites or any other insects.

 

[Birdy Buddy]

I like wheat straw. It is really cheap and one bale will last months. My coop has a wood floor. Every week or so I throw a layer of straw into the coop and in the adjacent run. The run surface when I first move the tractor starts out grass but in a day or so it's scorched earth. I leave the tractor for a few weeks and keep adding straw.
The great thing about straw is that it composts readily and when the chickens poo is mixed in the pile gets really hot. After I use the bale I go around and rake up all the straw from all the places the coop has been and make a huge compost pile.






This shows the underside of the coop floor. I rake out the coop and add new straw when I move the coop or every week or two. I usually have aggregate mix for making concrete that is cleaned sand and gravel without the cement. I throw a handful of mix in when I move the coop.