What should I use?

[AwesomeChickenGuy]

Should I use pine shavings or straw for bedding? I'm currently using pine shavings

 

[Lemon-Drop]

I use pine shavings... I like how fresh and cheap they are near me

 

[AwesomeChickenGuy]

Is there a difference between straw and pine shavings?

 

[Lemon-Drop]

I’ve heard straw can be more rough on chickens feet, but also that some pine shavings can cause respiratory problems. I’ve also heard that straw can cause mites, but am not sure if this is true. I just use pine shavings because they’re cheap near me and easy to clean out.

 

[THEChIcKeNwhisperer354]

I use straw and have never had a problem.

 

[AwesomeChickenGuy]

What can I do about my chickens eating the pine shavings?

 

[3KillerBs]

Any dry organic material can be used as bedding/litter for the coop and/or run. Each material has it's pros and cons.

Pine shavings are probably the most widely used because they are inexpensive, widely-available, easy to handle, and fairly long-lasting.

Straw has been the classic animal bedding for as long as humans have both grown grain and raised livestock.

Some locally-available materials have the advantage of being cheap, or even free -- for example, here in the Southeastern US pine straw, the fallen needles of Longleaf and Loblolly pines, are free for the raking on my property. They are not as absorbent as straw or shavings but they also don't pack and mat and the surface dries out rapidly after even the heaviest rainfall. I've heard of rice hulls and ground corncobs being locally-available in certain areas.

Some people use shredded paper -- which is often free or cheap, but which is subject to packing and matting.

Some people use lawn waste such as leaves, dried grass clippings, etc.

Many people use wood chips -- the coarse kind you get from a tree trimming service -- in their run. They provide superior drainage, are especially helpful with mud and odor problems, and last a long time but their drawback is that they usually come by the dump-truck load and have to be stored.

And then there are the exotic materials such as hemp and coffee grounds.

IMO, the best bedding is a mix of materials of different textures. I find that such mixes are less subject to packing, matting, and developing anaerobic pockets. I'm also very partial to free bedding.

 

[Sally PB]

Inside my coop I have a mix of pine shavings and hemp. The hemp is about 5 times the cost. I don't know if I like it 5 times as much.

Outside in the run, I have lots of last year's leaves. The chickens have shredded them down to nothing in some places. Now that it's warm, I bring them a bucket of weeds from the garden every day to eat and scratch through. Really love the free bedding in the run.

 

[aart]

What kind of bedding you use may depend on how you manage the manure.
This is about cleaning, but covers my big picture:

-I use poop boards under roosts with thin(<1/2") layer of sand/PDZ mix, sifted daily(takes 5-10mins) into bucket going to friends compost.
-Scrape big or wet poops off roost and ramps as needed.
-Pine shavings on coop floor, add some occasionally, totally changed out once or twice a year, old shavings added to run.
- My runs have semi-deep litter(cold composting), never clean anything out, just add smaller dry materials on occasion, add larger wood chippings as needed.
Aged ramial wood chippings are best IMO.
-Nests are bedded with straw, add some occasionally, change out if needed(broken egg).

There is no odor, unless a fresh cecal has been dropped and when I open the bucket to add more poop.

That's how I keep it 'clean', have not found any reason to clean 'deeper' in 7 years.

 

[Sally PB]

I would do exactly as @aart does, but I move my coop to a summer spot and a winter spot. The winter spot is our side yard so it's closer to the house for chores. I don't want a bare, muddy spot there, so I will be raking up the bedding (fantastic mulch!) and reseeding the area.

The coop bedding will be the start of the summer run bedding in a month or so. I raked up what was left of last year's bedding in the summer run... it will make great potting soil.