Wood chips or straw?

[Mikee1948]

Which do you prefer, and why?

 

[peepblessed]

I hope you get lots of answers on this because I'll been wondering the same thing. I have access to straw and not chips...

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

In the outside run? Neither, straw will mold, wood chips will get dirty, hard to keep clean. Sand is my favorite, hose down rake out and sprinkle on some DE.

Shellie

 

[mitchell3006]

I prefer the wood chips over straw. They are cheap for me and they don't mat down like the straw does. They seem to absorb more moisture and therefore smells which is a major plus for me.

 

[itom37]

For what?

I'm not sure there's anything I'd use wood chips for. You could use straw for the nest box i suppose. I use pine shavings in my coop/nest box and sand/dirt in the run.

 

[itsmechrissy]

Sand for the Run and Coop floor; pine shavings for nesting box. Google crop surgury and you'll see why I don't want straw -- probably not a big deal but those pictures scared me :-(

 

[HenCrazyMom]

I was just thinking about this this morning as I was cleaning up the coop and broiler room. The coop has wood shavings and was a breeze to clean with very little odor and the poo was very dry. The broiler room--yuck- stinky and that was primarily straw. I put wood shavings over the top which helped a ton. I much prefer the wood shavings over straw. The straw seems to hold on to moisture where the wood shavings dry out faster. JMO

 

[Jloeffler]

Quote:
Same here. I've used straw but the pine shavings keep the smell in coop waaaay down (something I shouldve remembered from playing in my grandparents barn as a kid, but noooo...). After one poo straw stinks!! And my laying hens actually prefer the pine shavings. Hubby lost a bet over that one since he was positive laying hens would choose the straw!

 

[peepblessed]

Wow! Great info, everyone! Guess I'll have to hunt up some wood shavings. Have lots of sand though!

 

[chickengrandma]

Pine shavings in the coop for sure. Absorbs odor. Easy to clean up. Good/fine for their lungs. (don't use cedar shavings - it is bad for their lungs.)

Dirt/sand in the run.

I do put straw (not hay) in their run in the winter but definitely wouldn't do it permanently. It gets moldy and stinky. Bad all the way around.