Chicken Coop bedding

[Hope Hughes]

We bought a sawmill when we got hit by the hurricane last year here in Florida to try to save the trees we had come down on oir land. Having a saw mill there is ALOT of saw dust and I hate wasting things, so i set up a bucket to try to save as much of the pine dust as I can and decided to try them in my coops. It works AMAZINGLY!

Here is My Instagram Post to see them all
fresh.

I use them in my quail pens, brooding pens, chicken coops, duck coops and so many other places. It works amazing! I always add DE and powered Permethrin to help keep all the unwanted pests away.

I will wait until they start to breakdown a little bit and turn brown to either turn the bedding under and mix it up or add ontop of it. Both methods work great and help keep the coop dryer and build the floor up beautifully. I used to buy pine pellets for my flooring in my coops and they break down to around the same way. But this is just saving money and time for me.

I dont think i will ever go back to any othet type of flooring for my pens. I do use shavings for my egg boxes or hay i may have on hand to just to keep the eggs safe. Alot of my chicken like to go broody on me and the dust is not good for egg protection.

 

[lagrange chicks]

Built the coop and wood for the run from milled white pine and white oak.

 

[Ted Brown]

"I use them in my quail pens, brooding pens, chicken coops, duck coops and so many other places. It works amazing! I always add DE and powered Permethrin to help keep all the unwanted pests away."

I am not an expert. From my reading I understood that one should use permethrin (and any other pesticide) only against a specific infestation. Rationale given is that critters adapt and the pesticide no longer works.

FWIW

 

[Krux5506]

Always satisfying to put what often would otherwise be "waste" to perfectly good use like this. I cut a lot of firewood every year and save a lot of the chainsaw wood chips from that. I make firestarters out of them or lately I do what you did and just dump them in the chicken run. Keeps them occupied for hours scratching through it plus helps absorb everything else.

 

[SandyRiverChick]

I've missed having sawdust readily available! I used it alot with my horses and I've always wondered if it would be good in the coop. Thanks!

 

[Hope Hughes]

I've missed having sawdust readily available! I used it alot with my horses and I've always wondered if it would be good in the coop. Thanks!

Absolutely! I have loved it. It really helps with the the outdoor quail pen, keeping the water at bay during our rainy season.

 

[lagrange chicks]

I have mill also but have not cut any wood since I got the chickens, need to use up some of the 6 thousand ft. I already have cut. I do save planner shavings for the coop.

 

[Hope Hughes]

"I use them in my quail pens, brooding pens, chicken coops, duck coops and so many other places. It works amazing! I always add DE and powered Permethrin to help keep all the unwanted pests away."

I am not an expert. From my reading I understood that one should use permethrin (and any other pesticide) only against a specific infestation. Rationale given is that critters adapt and the pesticide no longer works.

FWIW

I agree for contact on the infected areas, and it works amazing for those issues. The amount that I am adding into the ground is just enough to help prevent the issues to come about. We live in very sandy soil and have issues out here with Mites and Lice.

Before using the saw dust I used pine pellets (horse bedding) for about 2 1/2 yeas and also added the same powdered DE and PMT and gave never had an issue where it no longer worked.

I had a chicken that eneded up in our care for other reasons, and no matter how well we kept it quarantined we still eneded up with a mild lice problem one year because of it. The dust still worked amazing with direct content to the birds and havent had an issue since.

But with anything, animals and humans we do all adapt and our body do become amuned to alot of things we treat or use. Thankfully we do have many options out there to treat all the different issues that may arise.

 

[Hope Hughes]

Always satisfying to put what often would otherwise be "waste" to perfectly good use like this. I cut a lot of firewood every year and save a lot of the chainsaw wood chips from that. I make firestarters out of them or lately I do what you did and just dump them in the chicken run. Keeps them occupied for hours scratching through it plus helps absorb everything else.

Yes!!! Love it. There are so many things we can use that others would just waste. Its so sad how wastful the world has become.

 

[Hope Hughes]

I have mill also but have not cut any wood since I got the chickens, need to use up some of the 6 thousand ft. I already have cut. I do save planner shavings for the coop.

I think having a mill is a must on any homestead!