Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Poultry and Pets => The Hen House => Topic started by: derekwendy on November 08, 2009, 13:19
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Hi all
Can someone tell me what is best for my chickens as bedding is it hay or straw.
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I think straw stays a lot cleaner.
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I use sawdust for them at night time and in their nesting area as it seems to be tidy and easy to clean up, however I have just bought them a large straw bale and put it in their coop which they are loving , they keep pecking at it and scratching it. :)
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They tend to eat hay, which can then cause problems in their crop. Best avoided. :)
Rob
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I use straw and it keeps them warm and dry and smelling nice.
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hello, at the mo i only use shavings on the floor of the house as my nest boxes dont require bedding although over the next week or so straw will be geting used as my half bag of shavings which is stored in the corner on top of one of the poo shelves :D well has now turned into a very very commfy nest laying area i think if i take it away i will get some very upset girlies :lol: each day now i find a little dent in the middle of the bag and most days theres up to 9 eggs all grouped in the middle .
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Never use hay, bark, shreddings or hardwood shavings as litter.
Chopped straw is fine though not very absorbant, Softwood dust extracted shavings are excellent and highly sanitory and there's lots of specialist litter which use byproducts of wood pulp or paper manufacture. Visit a good equestrian supplier and see what's available locally. A bale of shavings lasts a longtime for a small house.
See this recent thread for a discussion on litter http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=47347.msg556558#msg556558
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My nest boxes have straw in them which they love to make into a bed, and the poop deck has sawdust under the perches. I saw one of the girls picking up bits of straw and throwing them over her shoulder to cover her eggs yesterday, didn't realise they did this. Never use hay I was told as it contains mould spores, not good for their chest or yours.
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Is shredded paper any good?
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I wouldn't have thought so (inks, etc. ) and would make a soggy mess when wet, no ?
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some people use shredded paper in their nest boxes but it is not very absorbant and needs changing every day. Don't use shiny paper as this contains more ink plus china clay which stops it being absorbant. Newspapers do compost down well though. I just use hemcore in my nest boxes (really just one box as they all like to use the same one - the other nest box must be there purely for cosmetic reasons !!) and a sprinkling of diatom.
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Can you believe my supplier didn't have any straw! I bought hay but having read this I will take it back and find some straw somewhere else.
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You haven't got a friendly farmer nearby, Newhen ?
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Yes, I may have! I will have a little look round. Hadn't thought of that, my daughter's friend has a farm.
Thanks.
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Our farmer neighbour sold us two of the big round bales for 10 quid (delivered !)
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I've always used shavings in the nest box. The area under the perches has a floor of cheap vinyl floor tiles, so daily scraping up and weekly mopping is easy. Did try shredded paper once, but saw one of them eat a long length so that was the end of that experiment.
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I pay 50p if he had a good year £1 otherwise for the small square bails. Lasts quite a long so Im happy with that.
Does that equate with you,rs Tode ?
just read it again and noooooooooo it doesnt :ohmy: :ohmy: :D
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I took the straw out of my coop as it was an awful pain to poop pick.
I went and bought Hemcore which smells sweet, easy to pick over and the chooks seem happy with it :) Works for me!
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Alby: I haven't the faintest idea what it equates to :D but a pound for a square bail seems OK to me.
The trouble with the big bails is moving em if you change your mind :ohmy:
And they're quite a job to unwind :D
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Tode, could get the big round bails but the nearest to the plot would be over a stream in an adjoining field :ohmy: now that would be a job to do without :mad:
£5 each is a damn good price though ::)
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And a glass of whiskey ( forgot that) :D
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goes without saying mate :D
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Thanks for all the info and responses i will be using straw from now on
Derek
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PS Derek: straw's very good round raspberries, as well ;)
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I'm happy using shredded paper ... doesn't get wet, doesn't stick to the eggs, easy to poo pick. I usually put a layer of straw on top, but when they nest they mix it all up anyway ::)
And best of all ... it's free :)