Sand or Deep Litter for Large Barn-style Coop with 70+ Chickens

[paintedChix]

Has anyone ever used shredded cardboard boxes as litter? I would shred big enough that they couldn't easily eat it.

@gtaus has a whole thread on using shredded paper & cardboard. I thought i had the link saved, but seems I do not.

I often add this to our mulch (cant seem to get regularly), leaves, pine straw, etc. Love it in our brooders, too.

 

[gtaus]

Has anyone ever used shredded cardboard boxes as litter? I would shred big enough that they couldn't easily eat it.

I only have 10 chickens, but use shredder paper and cardboard as my main coop litter. It works great. I don't have any problems with my chickens eating paper shreds. Here is a link to Using Shredded Paper for Coop Litter - As Good As Wood Chips?

I 've used it as horse bedding. Really liked it. Low/no dust and it lasted a good long while. Breaks down quickly in the compost pile.

Shredded paper is the almost dust free. The only dust I get in the coop is from chicken dander itself. Nothing from the paper shreds. Of course, if I add additional wood chips or leaves, then I get some dust. But paper shreds by itself are almost dust free.

@gtaus has a whole thread on using shredded paper & cardboard. I thought i had the link saved, but seems I do not.

I often add this to our mulch (cant seem to get regularly), leaves, pine straw, etc. Love it in our brooders, too.

Thanks for the shout out. Although my primary litter has been paper shreds for about 3 winters now, I am not opposed to tossing in other free litter resources to the mix. If I had 70 chickens, there is no way I could keep up shredding paper and cardboard with my home paper shredders. Some people get bags full of shredded paper from their workplace and offices.

This winter, I saved a lot of leaves to toss out into the chicken run to cover the snow. My chickens won't go outside and walk on the white snow. But if I toss even a thin layer of leaves on top of the snow, they will go outside even on the coldest of days.

I still have a lot of stored leaves left this spring, so I have started mixing leaves in with my paper shreds as coop litter. Mixed coop litter works well. Leaves are just more dusty. But in a month or so, I'll do my semi-annual coop cleanout and start over with fresh paper shreds.

The paper shreds compost in only weeks outside in the chicken run. The leaves take a little longer because they are bigger. But they all break down into wonderful chicken run compost, along with all the chicken poo, and I have lots of Black Gold compost for my raised bed gardens.

FWIW, I have never had 70 chickens at one time. But I did use sand years ago (I live on a lake) as coop litter for up to 30 birds. I was forever cleaning and replacing that sand. It always smelled bad. I know some people have success using sand, but maybe location matters. Sand did not work for me, and I really wanted it to because I live on a lake and have all the free sand I could ever use. I switched to dry deep bedding in my coop and deep litter type system for my chicken run. It just works so much better for me.