I liked the sound of Cozy Coop but on their website there's precious little information about what it is (ie what materials is it made from), how is it made (ie does it go through any heat sterilisation or drying processes) and how do they ensure there's no chicken toxic content etc, so I asked them and below is their reply.
"Hello, and thank you for your enquiry.
We are attached to a wood recycling business. Their main customer is Norboard (sic), who supply the panels for kitchens, bathrooms etc for the likes of Hygena, B & Q. Their strict specifications mean that any treated timber, MDF or hardwood are rejected at the gate. Once wood enters the yard it goes over a six-man-operated picking belt, to remove any contaminants that may be hidden in the load. Magnets then remove any remaining nails etc at three different points in the chipping process.
We have regular meetings with the Environment Agency, the most recent being last week, and they always leave us happy with the processes in place.
We have been selling cattle bedding for the last ten years and, after further screening, now Cozy Coop for the last year, with a large number of happy customers.
Cozy Coop comes on a pallet of 50 bags ( approx 10 kg each ) and is a highly absorbent, small particle woodchip.
Please contact me if I can be of any further help.
Adrian
Adrian Rainbird
Bio Marketing Ltd
Tel: 07889613347"
He means, I think, Norbord who make mdf, particle board etc not Norboard who are a company who make litho board for printing display panels.
I must say I'm never impressed by testamonial evidence alone for any product without a good quality control system and some testing regimen ensuring it meets appropriate standards backing it up. It's also not clear to me what the material is it is made from. Is it material Norbord reject for their own products or is it reject product made by Norbord? Whichever it doesn't sound like it's going to be consistent and it seems that there is very little further processing beyond removing metal and chipping so it conceivably could contain glue resins or vaneer coatings such as melamine. I'd like to know a bit more about what it is and how do they ensure it doesn't contain poultry toxins.
Compare Cozy Coop's website with Snowflake who manufacture a top brand softwood bedding "Supreme" which is heat treated, kiln dried and dust extracted and appears to be much more tightly specified.
http://www.snowflakeanimalbedding.co.uk/vites/production. Cozy Coop
www.cozycoop.co.uk/ .
Cozy Coop costs around £6.50 to £8 ish for a 10Kg bag. Snowflake Supreme is around £8 to £12 per 25kg bale for comparison. So CC isn't cheap. There's lots of other options for bedding too including by-products from wood pulping and paper making processes as well as natural chopped straw and shavings, hemp straw etc so it's worth looking at other options too.
Incidently a couple of the benefits claimed for CC are "less capping" and "a reduced incidence of hot burn" whatever these two afflictions are?
Answers in a post please the more humourously imaginative the better.
Regards
Regards