Who says cedar is bad for chickens???

[mylilchix]

So, am I reading this correctly, pine is bad for the chickens, too. I've been using pine bedding with my chooks since day one. Is it really toxic to them? I read a lot of things that said pine was ok.

Sonja

 

[cmom]

I have a friend who is a vet and has a clinic. Once in awhile she will come up and ckeck out my birds. She says they are very healthy. She does blood and poop samples. I have always used pine shavings deep litter method and some in their nest boxes under the nest material. I use FOOD GRADE Diatomaceous Earth (DE). I use DE where they dust bathe, in their nests, their litter, run, and all over their coop. I don't care if any gets in their food as I use Food Grade DE. I have no pest problems with my birds.

 

[morelcabin]

From a human perspective...I live in a log home...the logs are a mix of pine and BC fir. The interior walls are a very think tongue and groove cedar. When we refinished the home I very quickly found out that I had to SEAL the cedar and NOT sand it...it made me very sick, my chest hurt and felt really tight.
A friend of mine started using cedar with her birds and loved it...no smells. Within a few months her birds started dying off. It was from the cedar shavings. She switched back to pine and everything was alot better.

 

[priszilla]

There is a cedar shed 4X4X8 for sale on CL for $100-- I couldn't build a coop for that- but I would be afraid the cedar would not be safe for the birds- looks great though, shingled roof everything

 

[shabbyfarm]

What is to be said for pelleted corn cob bedding?? I have used it a couple of times and think it works good. Haven't checked out if it is cost effective.

 

[Akane]

It's called Care Fresh Pet Bedding. It is environmentally friendly and much softer then shavings in my opinion.

Yea but it would take a few $100 of carefresh to fill my coop. That stuff is insanely expensive and not as absorbent as pine. Not as noticeable short term with chickens but very noticeable with guinea pigs and I'm sure over time with something like the deep litter method you would notice a difference. It takes more carefresh and it costs 10 times as much as pine to fill a small animal cage. I'd hate to think what it would take for my 170sq ft coop.



Aspen can be rough with splinters and less absorbent. It depends on the tree and how it was cut so you have to try different brands. Sometimes you can find good aspen but not often for me to use it consistently.


As for corn cob I would think they would eat alot of it and it doesn't really have any nutritional value. If not then the downsides for corn cob compared to pine are that it molds easy when wet and is not as absorbent.



The best thing I've found is spruce. Sold as plain softwood shavings instead of under pine shavings. It has alot less phenols than pine and not even compareable to cedar. Hard to find but when I had 10 guinea pigs in the house spruce was the only cost effective bedding that did not cause allergy problems for the people. Even the time I got a fresh uncured still damp bag it had very little smell and was dry within an hour.​

 

[kodiakchicken]

I use a combination of spruce sawdust (we live next to a sawmill and it's free) with straw on top. I found once the hens started laying they really seemed happier with the straw. It's not cheap here though, $19.00/bale.

If it helps, I am terribly, allergic to cedar. I causes breathing problems and gives me a rash. Can't even use it to freshen drawers and closets.

When we got our rabbits I did a lot of studying and found out that cedar is quite bad for them. It can cause liver failure.

Best of luck educating the hard-headed!

 

[gumpsgirl]

Quote:
Go ahead and get it! As long as you "seal" the cedar like everyone else is posting, then you shouldn't have any problems. Get it!

 

[gumpsgirl]

Quote:
In a small coop it probably would be okay, cost wise. In my large 8'x11' coop, that just would be. I use kiln dried pine and my chickens seem healthy and happy with it. The wet stuff I could see a problem with, as I've bought pine shavings that were green before and they had a very strong odor to them. I've never noticed much of a smell to the kiln dried shavings before though.

 

[ILoveJoe]

Quote:
I would say " I am your elder, speak to me with respect, you noob!" A little added -finger jabbing the sternum- for emphasis would be appropriate.

I can't do that, all my nephews are about 10-15 years older than me

Rats, I hate when that happens!

Good luck trying to convince this guy to change, you may succeed or you may be

.
Here's hoping he thinks about what you are telling him.

One perspective about using harmful shavings could be that often chickens don't live 'long-term' as their purposes vary and the chicken may end up in 'Freezer Camp' or on the plate before any damage can occur to their organs.

My 18 week old chickens are free range during the day but get locked up in the coop at night and they are bedded on the bagged shavings from TSC which are pine. My chickens are pets and I don't plan on eating them, just their unborn children.