What is the best option for indoor chicken kennel bedding?

[babultower]

Greetings to all.

I have been raising a pet hen rescued as a chick from abandonment (had an infection, and stayed blind in one eye), and since I live in a pretty transited urban residential zone, I never felt comfortable releasing her--and the local flock terrifies/terrorizes her. I live in an apartment, so her enclosure is a big dog kennel, but I'm struggling with bedding solutions. Instinctively she wants to scratch the floor, meaning loose bedding will be found all around the kennel within the day, and not remain underneath to receive and deodorize her poop.

I have been using dog pamper sheets, held in place by clips, but just read their fibers could be toxic if swallowed...and she is breaking them seeking the non existent nutrients within.

I previously supplemented her foraging needs by both releasing her for a few hours around the apartment complex, and giving her purchased cut hay. I was rewarded with a $250 bill from the Vet because she couldn't digest the hay (I love her I didn't care). But now I can't use the hay to help capture her poop and delay the breaking of the pamper.

What bedding could be considered safe for her gut and viable to stay put within the Kennel?

 

[Smileybans]

For my indoor brooder I use pine shavings and peletized horse bedding. The horse bedding you hydrate with water and it turns into saw dust. You could also use masonry sand. The kind of sand with tiny rocks in it. Make sure, if you aren’t already, to have grit available to her. It’ll help her break up any bedding she might eat. I have chicks eat the pine shavings and horse bedding all the time. But since offering them grit have had no troubles.

Now all of these beddings will make a mess. I suggest putting a rubber welcome mat in her kennel before adding the bedding. One big enough that the sides of mat go up the sides of the kennel. That way not all of the bedding will overflow onto your floor. You can also add some wood to the sides of the kennel around the bottom to further stop overflow.

 

[BDutch]

You’re chicken does see but not good enough to stand up for herself in a flock?
Is it possible to give her a companion. Just one other chicken is enough against loneliness. Like a smaller friendly chicken or breed with no aggressive behaviour?

I love to use sand for bedding in the coop. It can be playground sand or other sand you can rake or sift. I only use soft bedding where the chickens roost/sleep.
To keep the sand in it’s place I would try to make a wooden bar before the opening(s). A plastic welcome mat might give trouble too if she eats that?

To prevent trouble with grasses and hay I give the chickens a mixture with grit. It has pieces oyster shell too for calcium.