Pelletized Bedding / Shavings

Incredibly helpful. A method I’ve been researching as I try to figure out which litter method works best for our particular situation. Thank you for such a well-written article.

Great to the point info. I have used these under grating in cages & under grated flooring in my pigeon loft, because no one can reach it to peck or try to eat it. I did not try it in the coop because I worried the chickens might try to eat it. I guess some may peck at it, since it does resemble pellet food, but hopefully they will realize it has no flavor & won't ingest enough to do harm. I am going to try it out. Thanks, you have inspired me, cleaner coops are always better.

We've used horse bedding pellets for years in our coop. Most recently, we started using them in our brooder when chicks are just a few days old. The only difference between you and us is we don't touch the pellets in the coop for a year. Every spring, we put down about 3-4" of them in an 8x12' coop, and for 18 chickens, that lasts until next spring.

Pine pellets as chicken litter - who would have guessed such a solution existed. Thank you for documenting in detail how to get and use the pellets. I really like being able to use a plastic pitch fork to grab just the poop and dispose of that without having to throw out the good pellets.

If you are able to add how you keep the chicken waterer from expanding all the pellets I'd be interested in trying it myself.

Well written. I may try it in my small coop.

I love all the details you included! I want to say that I have been using horse bedding pellets in my chicken shed for a while now and I love them. When I first got my chickens I also used the regular pine shavings and hated them for the same reasons you did, especially the poopy feet. So then I switched to sand. It has a lot of good properties as bedding. It absorbs the moisture quickly and doesn't stick to their feet, and it can be scooped like kitty litter. I really liked it but it is dusty and you have to eventually remove the sand and put it somewhere. That's when I decided to try the bedding pellets. Initially I used the whole pellets but they shifted around a lot because the floor is covered with sheet flooring, and I found them a bit hard to walk on. So I sprayed them down with water and they expanded into very fine shavings. I have been really happy using it this way. It has all the same properties as the whole pellets, it absorbs and dries out fast, no poopy feet, and no odor. Plus it is fine enough that I can sift it with a scooper and it doesn't shift around as much, unlike regular shavings. Scooping allows for removal of smaller bits of poop. I have actually used this batch of bedding for about six months and am getting ready to clean out the shed and replace it. I should note that I also added some Sweet PDZ initially. I used to use 100 % Sweet PDZ in my poop boards under their roosts, but I switched to using the expanded pellet bedding and it works great. I scoop the poop boards daily. I found that I can use a piece of 1/4" hardware cloth instead of a kitty scoop and it sifts through a larger amount faster. There isn't much poop on the floor so I just pick up the fresh blobs with a pooper scooper and small rake. Your detailed description has inspired me to give the whole pellets another try. It seems like being able to clean up with a bedding fork might save time and it sounds like it works well. Thanks for all the info and the links!

This is an excellent suggestion! I have used it for cat litter for several years and it works quite well...best odour control no stinky perfume..I have some baby chicks now and will for sure try it out?also it's less expensive than shavings locally.

I will give it a try !