what to use for litter in coop-highly allergic to hay and shavings

[churchx3]

I switched from pine shavings to river sand in my 2 coops this past weekend and I can already tell the difference. Of course the first night the chickens were freaked out because something "looked different" in the coop so I had to spread a very light layer of pine shavings over the sand to get them to go in. I am telling you in the 4 days since I made the switch there is less odor and the coop is so easy to clean. Will put sand in the run over time. Definitely feel it is a much cleaner environment as well. The chickens have adjusted nicely.

 

[LynneP]

Peat moss is an alternative, though it is dark and will coat the lower walls and roosts.
Whatever you use, I think the best way to deal with this is to wear a dust mask when in the coop...

 

[ADozenGirlz]

Quote:
I don't put anything on my droppings boards. I use a large scraper every morning and just remove the droppings. The board is removable, so I periodically take it out and hose it off and white wash it with DE.

 

[Siler]

My girls are free-range so substrate isn't much of a worry, but in the nest boxes we started using shredded newspaper for nesting material and they love it more than the hay plus no itching for me. Shredded newspaper for the rest of the coop wouldn't do well because of the large volume that would be needed. We're going to redo the coop and use linoleum that I've seen here on this forum. Just scrape it away and put it in the compost.

 

[jeb251]

sorry to hear about the problems, I am from bakersfeild and as a kid, we used no bedding of any kind, the ground was sandy loom and the birds scratched around so much that we never had to clean the cage, my suggestion would be to take all the bedding out, and occasionally feed scratch on the ground, as for the dust, I would run misters inside the cage, I now live in northern indiana and I use crass clippings in the spring summer and fall and straw in the winter but I am thinking about puttin about 6" of sand it would make life alot simpler

 

[flockmom]

Quote:
Assuming you are allergic to the bedding and not the chickens, you really should use sand. I know it gets hot in Arizona, but you could use shade cloth over the top of your run along with a quick mist with the water hose to keep the run comfortable. The sand in the coop will stay fairly cool as long as you have good ventilation.

I use sand in both the run and the coop and even on days when it has been 90 the sand in the run feels cool on my feet because I use shade cloth on part of the run. The base for my run is 2 inches of gravel, with 2 inches of sand on top. The floor of the coop is all sand. Use construction sand since it is coarse and will not produce dust.

Good luck!

 

[funonahonda]

I use the mulch that our township gives us for FREE, it is all organic and free

 

[pastrymama]

thanks everyone, i will be going to home depot for a few bags of sand i guess and hope that that's the ticket. and it never occured to me that someone could be allergic to a chicken.

 

[sklendworth]

you could try to locate a garden store that has or will order you coconut coir (usually used as a replacement for peat...coconut is WAY better than peat)....I am going to be putting it in my coop (have peat in there now b/c I couldn't find large quantities of coconut) and I have used it for my pet mice and rats....MUCH better odor control than shavings or hay...doesn't need to be cleaned as often...naturally has some antibacterial properties....I love the stuff.

One of my local stores has this and I'm thinking of trying it. Is it safe for young chicks?

 

[Beekissed]

Ugh, so everytime I go out to that coop and clean it out, which is like 3 times this week alone(they are in lockdown for 2 weeks, just went outside last week and they are poping up a storm) i come back in and i am itchy all over, my eyes are swelled up, the next morning they are completely blood shot and i am coughing like crazy. i have had whooping cough since last sptember so all the dust of the hay doesn't help, but i have been wearing a mask when i clean the coop and throw out new hay and i have tried pine shavings with the same results, but a litle less severe. i put in the DE, but not too much, still wearing my mask, i have been using less hay that i was previously and a few days ago i started letting them out of their coop to free range in the fenced off portion of the yard. there are only 6 of them. that yard itself is dirt, was gravel up until a few days ago. we had it taken out. we live in phoenix where it gets to 120 easily in the summer and having rock is a terrible idea. i see that some of you use sand in your coops and runs, that won't work here either. it's too bloody hot. any other ideas? leave their fence space dirt, their coop floor is cement, but the attached pen is a dirt floor.

they have been outside for 9 days and my eyes have swelled 3 times, turned bloodshot twice and i can't stop sneezing. advice please. and no, i can't take allergy pills, i am allergic to those to. and no, hubby won't clean the coop for me and my kiddies are too little. please, only nice helpful comments. this was something i really wanted to do for a long time. who the heck knew that i would be allergic to hay and shavings? thank you. noel

That's a simple one...stop cleaning out your coop! Start a deep litter system so you never have to clean out your coop again...also in the run. They will be healthier for it and so will you. Use leaves, pine needles, shavings, grass clippings, etc. in thin layers, adding only when needed, until the litter is 10-12 in. deep and then let that system maintain itself. All you have to do after that is lightly toss some of the dry litter over the roost deposits a couple of times a week and add more bedding materials as it decreases in mass.

Put some soil down on the coop floor before starting your deep litter system to give it a good start of the proper microorganisms that will turn your litter into a composting mass.

I haven't cleaned out my coop in a year and a half. I get allergy symptoms from messing with bedding too, so this system is perfect for me. Make sure you have really good airflow in your coop...in your hot climate you will need that anyway. Open up big ventilation at all levels of the coop in order to increase air quality in your coop and to facilitate a better deep litter system. Seeing as you live in an arid climate, you can get by using more moist bedding choices like grass or weed trimmings, garden trimmings and prunings, etc.

Don't use DE in this system...it depends on bug and worm life for its success and DE is an indiscriminate killer. The deep litter will not encourage parasites.

Here's some pics of deep my litter...there is a large thread on this method if you'd like to learn more:





Below is after adding flower bed trimmings...within a few weeks you couldn't find any of this greenery....the deep litter had just...digested it. That's what it does with feces too....you can turn some under and into the bedding and try to find those in a couple of days and they are just gone. Disappeared.