Thoughts on Bedding/Litter -- Why I Chose Straw Today

[Laurie11111]

If anything, straw also has stray wheat berries. The rodent has been in my straw garden mulch nightly, eating them, so the chooks would also get a bonus if it's in their runs and coops. Winters here are rather wet, so have used shavings in their coop, and on top of sand in the smaller run. Made the mistake of using hay. Only once.

What happened when you used hay in the run?

 

[PopoMyers]

What happened when you used hay in the run?

The hay got moldy and compacted rather quickly. Quit using it. Haven't used straw.

 

[3KillerBs]

What happened when you used hay in the run?

I would never use hay as bedding.

Hay, like the manure itself, is a compost GREEN when you need a compost BROWN to react with the poop.

 

[jreardon1918]

Our coop has just pine shavings. The run is garden waste, grass clippings, semi-annual coop shavings clean out. No smell. Today added grass clippings and shredded leaves.

 

[PopoMyers]

Our coop has just pine shavings. The run is garden waste, grass clippings, semi-annual coop shavings clean out. No smell. Today added grass clippings and shredded leaves.

This is very interesting! Do you just dump all the coop poop with the shavings in the run? Looks like I may be recycling all the lawn clippings this efficient way. Do you ever use the "chicken processed run materials" in your garden?

 

[jreardon1918]

This is very interesting! Do you just dump all the coop poop with the shavings in the run? Looks like I may be recycling all the lawn clippings this efficient way. Do you ever use the "chicken processed run materials" in your garden?

The shavings and poop go into the run. The girls scratch through and mix it. Yes, we will add a thick layer to the gardens in a few weeks. We also add in early spring. Family and friends also come to take buckets full. People have warned us of "hot" chicken poop. My unscientific thought is that it gets mixed in with the compost and is pure goodness.

 

[PopoMyers]

The shavings and poop go into the run. The girls scratch through and mix it. Yes, we will add a thick layer to the gardens in a few weeks. We also add in early spring. Family and friends also come to take buckets full. People have warned us of "hot" chicken poop. My unscientific thought is that it gets mixed in with the compost and is pure goodness.

And all this time I was carting it elsewhere to make a pile. Is your run sheltered from rain? It rains a lot here, and thought it would become a big, stinky muddy mess.

 

[3KillerBs]

I chose straw again today, despite the drawbacks of using it in the coop because, once again, circumstances made it the best choice. Today. Not always. But today.

It's been a wet winter so I haven't been able to rake up pinestraw and the woodchip pile is not merely damp -- which would be fine in an Open Air coop -- but SODDEN. I also needed to replace the nestbox material and like to use a mix of straw and shavings there because that mix seems to allow the hens to make a nice bowl for their eggs without kicking too much bedding out (in the summer I make "wreaths" of dry, long grass for this purpose).

I could have used wood shavings, but I also wanted to give my flock, which is under lockdown because Avian Flu has been found in my state, something to do. Yesterday they had the weed-infested old garden mulch to play with, but ripping up a bale of straw will keep them busy for several days at least.

 

[Idaho Chicken Bungalow]

You're my inspiration for mixed materials in my 8x8 pen (soon to be 8x16)! So far, chopped straw, hemp shavings, dry willow leaves, wood chips and coir on dirt. It's stayed nice and fluffy, odor-free, and they seem to love it. (They also semi-free range in a larger area.)

I love the hemp shavings. I put them down last July, almost a year later they look like the day I put them down.

 

[Ccort]

This is great! How often do you clean your run? Also, how deep do you make the pine/straw bedding in the run?