Lots of good comments. Will add just a few thoughts from my experience.
I live on a lake. I used sand as litter many years ago, but I could never it get it clean enough and it smelled all the time. I was replacing my sand litter about every 2 weeks. That was too much work for me. However, I know lots of people love using sand and maybe it works for them. Like I said, I live on a lake and could get all the free sand I would ever need. It just did not work out for me.
Also, I live in northern Minnesota and sand freezes as hard as concrete in the winter. It would not be good as a winter litter for me.
Paper shreds, leaves, dried grass, and wood chips all will absorb the chicken poo even in freezing cold weather. I imagine those litter options are much warmer on the chickens feet than frozen sand in the winter. Also, it is much softer for the chickens to fly off the roost bar into the fluffy paper shreds, leaves, etc... compared to landing on a rock hard frozen sand floor.
I have used wood chips, dried grass, and leaves for coop litter. The past few years I moved to using paper shreds as my main coop litter. However, I always suggest using whatever free resources you can use, and it's OK to mix litter.
I compost all my coop litter out in the chicken run which I converted to a chicken run composting system. I use the chicken run compost in my raised bed gardens and it is the best compost I have ever used. I'm very, very happy with my chicken run compost.
Yeah, wood chips need to be composted well before using them in the garden soil. I would let my coop litter sit in the coop for a good 6 months, full of chicken poo, before I dumped the old coop litter out into the chicken run. Wood chips take another 6 months, or more, to compost where I live.
I do a dry deep bedding system in my coop and clean it out twice a year. If you do it right, it should not smell. If I get any hint of smell, I just add more paper shreds, but have also used wood chips, leaves, dried grass, etc... That takes care of most of my problems.
I don't use poop boards. I let the poo drop down into my dry deep bedding where it automagically dries up and disappears into the litter.
I don't bother to turn coop litter. If a spot needs some work, I'll toss some chicken scratch on that area and the hens will scratch it up, refreshing the top layer of litter. Well, that, and every couple of weeks I toss on a thin layer of paper shreds on the coop litter, especially under the roost bar.
I have used all kinds of free litter options, but my current favorite free resource is paper shreds. If interested, check out the thread Using Shredded Paper for Coop Litter - As Good As Wood Chips?
I had a wealth of leaves this year, so I started off my coop litter with about 4 inches of leaves this fall. I will add paper shreds about twice a month throughout the winter months. It all mixes well. Both the leaves and the paper shreds will compost faster than wood chips, if that is one of your goals.
Good luck on finding your best option. And, like I said, nothing wrong with mixing coop litter with all sorts of free material. Best wishes.
I live on a lake. I used sand as litter many years ago, but I could never it get it clean enough and it smelled all the time. I was replacing my sand litter about every 2 weeks. That was too much work for me. However, I know lots of people love using sand and maybe it works for them. Like I said, I live on a lake and could get all the free sand I would ever need. It just did not work out for me.
Also, I live in northern Minnesota and sand freezes as hard as concrete in the winter. It would not be good as a winter litter for me.
Paper shreds, leaves, dried grass, and wood chips all will absorb the chicken poo even in freezing cold weather. I imagine those litter options are much warmer on the chickens feet than frozen sand in the winter. Also, it is much softer for the chickens to fly off the roost bar into the fluffy paper shreds, leaves, etc... compared to landing on a rock hard frozen sand floor.
I have used wood chips, dried grass, and leaves for coop litter. The past few years I moved to using paper shreds as my main coop litter. However, I always suggest using whatever free resources you can use, and it's OK to mix litter.
I compost all my coop litter out in the chicken run which I converted to a chicken run composting system. I use the chicken run compost in my raised bed gardens and it is the best compost I have ever used. I'm very, very happy with my chicken run compost.
Yeah, wood chips need to be composted well before using them in the garden soil. I would let my coop litter sit in the coop for a good 6 months, full of chicken poo, before I dumped the old coop litter out into the chicken run. Wood chips take another 6 months, or more, to compost where I live.
I do a dry deep bedding system in my coop and clean it out twice a year. If you do it right, it should not smell. If I get any hint of smell, I just add more paper shreds, but have also used wood chips, leaves, dried grass, etc... That takes care of most of my problems.
I don't use poop boards. I let the poo drop down into my dry deep bedding where it automagically dries up and disappears into the litter.
I don't bother to turn coop litter. If a spot needs some work, I'll toss some chicken scratch on that area and the hens will scratch it up, refreshing the top layer of litter. Well, that, and every couple of weeks I toss on a thin layer of paper shreds on the coop litter, especially under the roost bar.
I have used all kinds of free litter options, but my current favorite free resource is paper shreds. If interested, check out the thread Using Shredded Paper for Coop Litter - As Good As Wood Chips?
I had a wealth of leaves this year, so I started off my coop litter with about 4 inches of leaves this fall. I will add paper shreds about twice a month throughout the winter months. It all mixes well. Both the leaves and the paper shreds will compost faster than wood chips, if that is one of your goals.
Good luck on finding your best option. And, like I said, nothing wrong with mixing coop litter with all sorts of free material. Best wishes.
