What is your preferred bedding?

[catinthecoop]

No wonder you thought it was expensive! I forgot they even sell those teeny ones at the pet store, they're kinda useless.

 

[Erin80]

It was a 2 cubic foot bag that expands to 4 cubic feet. The one from the feed store expands to 9.75 cubic feet and is so much cheaper!

 

[BuckeyeFoodie]

My coop is 12x16, 8 feet tall and on a poured slab, with two 12x7.5 lockable sections that I bed all the time, and a walkway in the middle I will add some bedding to when the broodies are set loose and will ave the run of the whole coop. I use the same sawdust/shavings that we buy in loose bulk by the truckload for our horses, both because it's cheap because it's already there, and because it does a really excellent job. Our sawdust is probably 50% very fine sawdust, and 50% curly flakes, so it does an exemplary job of absorbing moisture while still providing a nice amount of cushiony fluff. We get it from a local custom furniture shop for the cost of delivery.

I clean the bedding out probably once a month unless it has gotten wet from the windows being open, and I like to spread the fresh shavings 2-3 inches deep in the "sleeping" areas, but only an inch in the "traffic" areas. I also like to throw some scratch and meal worms onto the fresh bedding so that I can watch my kids have a scavenger hunt when I let them back inside!

If it's going to get very cold in winter I will spread around a bale of straw to help give extra insulation for my ground-sleeper's - Silkies, Ducks, and I imagine the two turkey's my aunt bought last week.