Which bedding is best?

[Chickenman MAN]

I've never heard of this, how interesting. What does the pine oil do?
I use hay, my devils would probably eat anything else.

It's anti bacterial

 

[Chickenman MAN]

H

Chickens aren't as fussy about their bedding as their owners are.

Any dry organic material that is readily available and non-toxic is good bedding -- straw, pine straw, wood chips, wood shavings, dry leaves, shredded paper, rice hulls, and so on -- can be used in the coop or run with good results depending on your management system.

The bedding in the nest box needs to be fluffy enough to cushion the drop of the egg and of a texture that the hen can arrange in a comfortable hollow for her body. I have coarse-flake shavings in my nest boxes and the two girls who are laying are perfectly happy with them (as were the hens of the previous flock).

Many people use straw or hay in their nest boxes and their hens are happy with those materials.

Huh... so I'd imagine they wouldn't mind the wood shavings. Perhaps I'll buy those next time.

 

[Chickenman MAN]

I use fallen leaves on the coop and run floor, and sometimes i also add pine straw (which is a fancy word for pine needles from White Pines which are super soft and smell nice). I have all that for free. Sometimes in the summer I throw in herb trimmings from my mint and lavender.
Like @aart I don't clean it out and let it all compost down slowly.
In the nest boxes I use kiln dried pine shavings and if I ever feel the need to clean out the nest boxes I just tip the pine shavings on top of the leaves and pine straw and it all gets mixed in.
The chickens sometimes take a liking to a particular leaf and bring it in to decorate their nest box. Don't ask me, I have no idea why!

I have leaves on the run floor as well. We don't get pine bales over in the UK sadly. I think my chickens also bring in leaves

 

[Chickenman MAN]

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.

I just generally pick up all of the poo in the coop. I basically never clean out the run. It's huge for 4 chickens, and is covered in ivy, sticks and lots of leaves. I wouldn't do the deep litter thing in the coop personally, but my coop couldn't do that anyway. I think I may try wood shavings next time, they are dust-extracted for horses.

 

[Chickenman MAN]

Another question. Is sawdust ok? I've read that it is, and that it isn't. Idk who to believe. I've seen a fair few times on the local facebook feed that there is hella tonne free sawdust. Is it safe?

 

[RoyalChick]

I have leaves on the run floor as well. We don't get pine bales over in the UK sadly. I think my chickens also bring in leaves

Funny chickens!
I rake the pine straw (aka pine needles) from under some pine trees by my driveway. There are more leaves around than pine needles and one season’s heap lasts me all year. But I enjoy the pine needles because they are so soft and smell nice.

 

[Chickenman MAN]

i

Funny chickens!
I rake the pine straw (aka pine needles) from under some pine trees by my driveway. There are more leaves around than pine needles and one season’s heap lasts me all year. But I enjoy the pine needles because they are so soft and smell nice.

We do have a couple of pine trees, but the climate here is so damp the needles would quickly grow mould/fungi and we don't have facilities to dry it out

 

[rosemarythyme]

Another question. Is sawdust ok? I've read that it is, and that it isn't. Idk who to believe. I've seen a fair few times on the local facebook feed that there is hella tonne free sawdust. Is it safe?

Sawdust can be a respiratory irritant as it's too fine. I tried using smaller wood particles that were bigger than sawdust (but still fairly fine) under my roost, and the mask I wear daily when cleaning the coop would get caked up in no time, so you can imagine what true sawdust would do to chickens standing only a foot off the floor.

I'm now using hemp in that spot and there's much less residue on my mask. I did a google search and there's at least 2 companies distributing hemp bedding in UK. I have to order it too, it's not widely used so most feed stores do not carry it.

 

[SwampFlock]

I use shredded leaves with no problems. Whole leaves don't absorb/clump as much as shredded. But I live in SE TX so we ALWAYS have leaves around with no snow to cover them up.

 

[Chickenman MAN]

Sawdust can be a respiratory irritant as it's too fine. I tried using smaller wood particles that were bigger than sawdust (but still fairly fine) under my roost, and the mask I wear daily when cleaning the coop would get caked up in no time, so you can imagine what true sawdust would do to chickens standing only a foot off the floor.

I'm now using hemp in that spot and there's much less residue on my mask. I did a google search and there's at least 2 companies distributing hemp bedding in UK. I have to order it too, it's not widely used so most feed stores do not carry it.

I don't use a mask but I only have 4 chickens. Do you recommend I use one?