What works best?

[11langenkamp_w]

What works best pee gravel, straw, or shavings for bedding?

 

[chickenshagg]

For bedding I use pine shavings, for the run I use pea gravel, for the snow I use straw and for the nest boxes I use pine shavings and straw.

 

[CARS]

I use pine/fur wood shavings and short-shred paper for the coop and grass/clover/alfalfa for the run.

The inside materials are highly absorbent and (at least in the case of the shredded paper) cheap. Both are compostable.

My outdoor run material... well, it's only available around 6-7 months a year. So in winter I throw a bale of alfalfa in the coop every couple weeks for greens.

In the nesting boxes I use wheat straw.

 

[fordmommy]

I got dirt floor, with 3-4" of sand on top, (next year I'll add more), then I was using pine shavings, but for winter I switched to hay for the deep litter method. Works great.

 

[gritsar]

Pine shavings on the coop floor. In my nestboxes I have hay. This has worked well for me from the start.

 

[gsim]

I use grass clippings and have since May, as litter and nesting material too. They smell good, the chooks eat them, and they are free and abundant through November in Tennessee. Since they work so well, are free and abundant, I would not even think of changing to anything else.

 

[CARS]

Quote:
I've done that too but it's hard to find grass clippings that haven't been weed N feed'ed. Well, that and grass only grows about half the year here

 

[CityClucks]

I use pine shavings in the coop and nest boxes. In the run I use grass clippings in the spring and summer and leaves in the fall. In the snow I use wheat straw with a few flakes of alfalfa thrown in for them to eat. My city has a green dump where I can get free wood mulch and I've heard of others using that in the run, but I haven't tried it.

 

[kindir]

I use shavings indoors, but primarily because they are free (I get them from a local tech school woodshop). outdoors I just had dirt, but found that it was getting too muddy so I poured a couple of inches of sand over it and covered some of it with a tarp and that has worked very well. I imagine I'll need to keep adding sand every month or two, since it also keeps the smell down but the sand was a recent addition.

It's a constant learning process for me, I keep adjusting according to whatever happens - I've only had my chickens for about 9 months...