I will use pine shavings in the coop this winter, not straw. My husband is a farmer, he along with my son calves out 300 head of mother cows every winter. They use straw in the barn for the calving sheds but they have to replace the straw every couple of days as everything (birthing material, poop etc.) clings to the straw. They use it because of it's warmth, but it soils very easily. So I think the pine shavings are better in a coop than straw. I do put straw in my dog houses as they keep them warm and the dogs don't poop in their houses so I don't have to change the straw just add to it. Just my experience and two cents worth !
I use wheat straw in our coop. Only because we have nearly 2 tons of it stored away after not needing nearly as much for stall bedding for my horse after a month long stalled surgery recovery as we thought we would need.
It isn't nearly as bad as it seems it could be, I don't think.
But I don't have a different reference point. I do go out and scoop up poop ever day, taking the gnarly straw with it to the compost pile. Then I just use my little hand rake to turn it all under so they don't step in little bits I might have missed. The straw actually shards really nicely, thereby sort of dropping down the small pieces of it, plus the chicken poop bits to the bottom, so it is sort of like a litter box for clean up of the dry bits the next day, and also for complete clean out that is great- you just pull back the big straw sticks on the top, and shovel out the bottom bits. I am the eternal no- wasting of anything, use everything to the fullest, lol. I have 13 birds in a 4x6 coop all night, and so far it hasn't been obnoxious for me, aside from having to twist myself into the roosts to scoop under them lol.
When I got this coop it was used they had used pine shavings, and the whole thing smelled to high heaven of nasty small animal and chicken poop. I think they didn't clean the poop nearly as much as was needed (as evidenced by the dried layers I had to chop off the roosts, lol), and the mice also love the bedding, along with the food having been kept in the coop. Now that I did a massive cleaning, and get poop most everyday, even though we have a few more birds in there than it really should have, there is no major smell, and the mess stays fairly contained.
I still have remnants of shaving in the nest boxes, and I hate it, lol they track it everywhere, and throw it. I started filling them with straw, and there was a bit of annoyance from the hens, but once they got it all situated and smashed how they like, they seem to have really taken to it.
Just wanted to give my 2 cents on the flip side of straw. And good to know it is insulating.
By making the run inviting, do you mean warm (by covering with plastic) and more comfy on their feet with straw and whatnot?
