Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Poultry and Pets => The Hen House => Topic started by: Stevie P on March 01, 2010, 20:42
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I have now built a coop as shown by plans on front of Poultry Pages and have 4 rescued hens and 4 POL hens all on the allotment bank. I bought Hemcore and think it is good but very pricey compared to a bale of straw. I have read that chopped straw is a decent litter for the coop but how do you make? I thought about trying my electric garden shredder but not sure it would work - does anyone know of a simple machine that could make it for me? Has anyone tried to make it using a rotary mower with grass box and does it work. I want to use the soiled litter on the allotment to fertilise the ground thus completeing the circle so far as is possible and have read that wood shavings take a long time to rot down.
Thanks for reading and I look forward to hearing your comments
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I think you buy it ready chopped (it depends on how the farm machinery chops it), but it's nowhere as absorbant as hemcore and hemcore composts down rather quickly :)
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What is hemcore and where do you buy it?
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Hi, your right , wood shavings do take a long time to rot down, but hempcore dosent! Hempcore is more expensive than straw, but its more absorbant so will actually last longer (IMHO). Im sorry , but i dont know of any machinery that will chop the straw for you :)
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Someone recommended aubiose to me which I've been using. I've no idea how quickly it rots down but its much less mucky than sawdust.
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hemcore is the centre pulp of the hemp plant and is used for bedding in stables. It is citronella scented which helps with flies in winter, it is super absorbant so lasts longer than shavings. It can be bought from horsey places or if you can't get that look out for aubiose (sp?) which is similar :)
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i use aubiose and a bale costing £8 lasts about 6 weeks or more. Its absolutely marvellous and makes cleaning the coop alot easier - its so absorbent - i'm a fan. I sell my eggs and find that i only have to sell about 18 eggs a week to pay for the food and bedding materials.
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Not sure if it's the best but I am a great fan of Cozy Coop. It's finely shredded recycled wood and costs just over £6 per sack. My hens seem to be very comfortable, the coop smells pleasant and it's easy to scoop the dirty bits (I use a cat litter "strainer") and toss them into the compost bin. I get mine from Flyte so Fancy in Dorset or from a local branch of Pets At Home. The latter may need to order the product for you.
Maeve
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Not sure if it's the best but I am a great fan of Cozy Coop. It's finely shredded recycled wood and costs just over £6 per sack. My hens seem to be very comfortable, the coop smells pleasant and it's easy to scoop the dirty bits (I use a cat litter "strainer") and toss them into the compost bin. I get mine from Flyte so Fancy in Dorset or from a local branch of Pets At Home. The latter may need to order the product for you.
Maeve
I haven't heard of that, it seems a bit cheaper than hemcore from what I have seen.
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We use Cozy Coop great stuff! Had a deal where it was cheaper to buy 2 sacks 2gether. I think from ebay. I will always use it, as a little goes along way and the Girls love it. The chopped straw I got from pet shop in a small compact bag [dust free]. For the nestboxes and spread some on the Cozy bedding in this never ending cold weather. To give abit more insulation.
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8) We just started using Hemcore and it's everything we expected except for one thing. Does anyone else have "hairy" eggs ? When we collect ours they're positively fluffy with little stringy bits of hemp stuck to the shells. :D
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yes sometimes :lol:
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I was just going to give hemcore a go, as it has been so wet - I thought the extra absorbtion would help keep my banties run drier. My colleage sourced some hemcore for £6.50 a bale...so I jumped at her offer to get me one, It turns out it isn't hemcore, but their new product Rapport. This is a more cost effect bedding, but made from Rape rather than hemp.
I've put some down in the run, and will be using it for bedding in my other chook house. Sorry - you'll have to wait a little for the verdict tho, only got it yesterday. Their website tells you all aout it
www.hemcore.co.uk
lukasmum
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If your keeping them on a allotment Stevie, in my experience, bailed straw is fine. Just change it atleast weekly and it will rot down within 6 months in a compost heap. If they in a run and not free-ranging turn the ground every week, they will love digging round.
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Didn't know if anyone was interested in an update on Rapport - the Rape version of Hemcore, which is much cheaper.
I give it a thumbs up, 10/10! :D
I cleaned out my chook houses today, and was amazed. I lay newspaper, then put the rapport on top. The newspapers weren't even damp. Very different from when I was using shavings.
I do poo pick every day - but even so, I am suitably impressed, and the bale is HUGE for £6.50. Bargain!
Lukasmum :)
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Thanks for that lukasmum, will have to look into that myself :D
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this stuff sounds really good I use straw with the intention of composting up th allotment but its so slow to rot down does anyone know if you can use it for ducks? and do you have to water it when you first put it down as suggested for horses
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I haven't watered mine - there really isn't any dust coming off it, and it certainly absorbs any moisture out of their poo.
Its very compacted in the bale, so when fluffed up is really quite nice. It is supposed to compost down quicker - but you'll have to wait a bit longer for an update on that one!! :lol:
Its in much shorter shreds than straw, about 2-4 inches long, so hopefully will compost nicely :)
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I think the watering bit like with hemcore is just for stables and not chickens :)
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I use equisorb, which is flax/hemp similar to aubiose but a bit cheaper. Unlike shavings, the flax beddings don't carry VAT so should work out cheaper!
ps....it's ages since i've been on (sorry!) .... site looks good but i shall have to practice with all the new buttons!
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Didn't know if anyone was interested in an update on Rapport - the Rape version of Hemcore, which is much cheaper.
I give it a thumbs up, 10/10! :D
I cleaned out my chook houses today, and was amazed. I lay newspaper, then put the rapport on top. The newspapers weren't even damp. Very different from when I was using shavings.
I do poo pick every day - but even so, I am suitably impressed, and the bale is HUGE for £6.50. Bargain!
Lukasmum :)
I tried rape bedding a while back and wasn't very impressed by its absorbancy. I think it was Rapport though not sure. I'm currently trialing Hemcore which is OK and seems quite absorbant. I was attracted by the rot down qualities (I don't poo pick the house as its design eliminates the need and lifes too short as it is). My chx do seem to like eating it though and it's a bit stick like to use in the nestbox. I've found shavings to be my prefered litter but they aren't all created equal and Snowflakes brand is the best for absorbancy I've found, though it's also quite pricey at £8 a bale. Other horse shavings I've tried aren't as absorbant and don't bulk up as well. Snowflakes can be used as nesting too. I've used chopped straw mixed with shavings (Beddown which my wife uses for the horses, which are much bigger than chx and have 4 legs and are useless layers but I digress.). Ok in the nestbox but not so good for absorbancy or rotting and really difficult to use by hand in small quantities as it is so tightly packed in the bale and doesn't loosen up unless you split the bale which is not convenient for chicken use. So currently it's a toss up between Snowflakes and Hemcore.
Also not all bales are created equally and it's worth checking the weight as well as how long it lasts in use. Sacks of bedding are pretty low density so you can't judge them by volume size. Shavings et al in bales are compressed and bulk up a lot in use.
HF
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Oh .....and if anyone knows of a machine which chops straw could they let me know cos I've got a hole in my bucket!
HF
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:nowink: :lol: :lol: