Hello...is it safe to use fine pine shavings for our hen house?

[Geezerloca]

Hi good morning. My name is Linda and I need to know if it's safe to use pine shavings super fine Pine shavings like sawdust, in my chicken coop as bedding?

 

[Folly's place]

Welcome!
We use baled pine shavings, either 'regular' or 'fine', but not sawdust. I'd think that actual sawdust would be even dustier, in an already very dusty environment. We've never used sawdust in our coop, maybe some people who have tried it will respond here.
Mary

 

[HorsesRMe123]

Hello! I’ve never used fine pine shavings. We’ve always gotten the largest flake of pine shavings for our chickens and geese. The workers at the store we get ours at recommend the largest flake of pine shavings as well. So I would recommend getting the largest size pine shavings instead.

 

[iwltfum]

I've used pine sawdust/small shavings from my planer and table saw in the past just because I didn't want to throw them in the trash and I didn't have an active compost pile at the time. It worked, but the smaller pieces are more prone to matting down. I only used it as an addition to baled pine flake shavings and it was a very small amount compared to the amount of larger shavings that were already in the coop at the time. These days, I always have an active compost pile so I toss them in there, which I feel like is a better option. You could also toss them in a mulched garden bed or just scattered about in some grass.

 

[Tasha Miller]

Hi good morning. My name is Linda and I need to know if it's safe to use pine shavings super fine Pine shavings like sawdust, in my chicken coop as bedding?

From what I've been reading cider and pine are not good for chicken coops, been looking into it for my parents coop

 

[nuthatched]

From what I've been reading cider and pine are not good for chicken coops, been looking into it for my parents coop

Pine is fine. Cedar can be toxic.

 

[TaylorGlade]

We use pine flakes because they are less dusty. Also, if they eat shavings I believe it's more likely to cause impacted crop. We also use PDZ for horse stalls to keep down on the ammonia smell