wood chips verses hay for nesting boxes and coops?

[ourlilfarm]

Hello
We are just wondering which would be the best for our "girls" (well we hope we have girls. the first six are suppose to be but the last there were no gaurntees) anyway.. Woodchips (pine) or Hay? that is the question? I've heard that wood chips is better because of mites in the hay

 

[my sunwolf]

Hello
We are just wondering which would be the best for our "girls" (well we hope we have girls. the first six are suppose to be but the last there were no gaurntees) anyway.. Woodchips (pine) or Hay? that is the question? I've heard that wood chips is better because of mites in the hay

I don't know how others' chickens are, but my girls will only lay their eggs in straw or hay--not wood shavings, chips, sand, anything else. If you add a little bit of diatomaceous earth to the nest boxes you shouldn't have any mites problems.

 

[SD Bird Lady]

I use wood chips (pine) for the floor of my coop. It is cheaper (depending on your sources) and IMO absorbs better. I used both hay & wood chips in the nest boxes and found the ladies prefer hay so I now put hay in all their nest boxes.

 

[hemet dennis]

I use dirt. That's what chickens used for thousands of years.

 

[hemet dennis]

You would probably get a better response if you had a mod move this to the proper forum.