[The Norfolk Turkey]

We've had our girls a month now and theyre settling in nicely - two have started laying regularly much to the kids and our excitement!!

Were using cozicoop in the coop and shavings in the nest box, the thinking being that we can compost the cozicoop,  but bless em, they just seem to scoot the shavings about everywhere so the whole lots keeps building up till its way deep and gets thrown in the bin!

They also seem to end up with loads of poo in the nest box, despite the fact they dont sleep in their?!

Any suggestions or alternatives? Thanks!!

[Fisherman]

You might want to try a product called hemcore which is made from the stems of hemp plants and works really well in coops. It can be bought from horse feed suppliers for about £10 for a 20Kg bale so a little cheaper than cozy coop. I also use it in the nest boxes and all the birds happily lay in them. Have you got a small up-stand say 3" at the front of your nest boxes to stop the shavings coming out? Young birds can be a bit messy in the nest boxes to start with but they soon sort themselves out. Watch out for them sleeping in them overnight and if they start block the boxes off overnight with a board or maybe put something inside them like a shoe box. Don't forget to open them up the following morning as the birds will complain like there's no tomorrow.

Forgot to mention that hemcore rots down really well when mixed with other garden materials so its good for composting.

[Casey76]

The shavings are compostable too, though they may take a bit longer to rot down than the cozycoop.  it seems a shame to bin it, if you could be composting it instead (mixed with grass clippings it should heat up nicely!)

I agree with Fisherman,  a nice deep  lip across the front of the nest boxes helps to keep the bedding in the boxes, though i have to admit that I like straw in the nest boxes as I think the hens can make a proper nest out of it.  It also tends not to be scratted everywhere... so, I have a lyaer of hemcore and then a layer of shavings in the boxes, and it all gets changed out once a week with the rest of the bedding (it all gets composted).

[ManicMum]

We started out using Aubiose (hemp based & designed for horses) but have now changed to wood shavings (availability, no other reason) - on the floor and in the nest boxes.  It makes it easier if it's one material throughout.

The girls move it around to their own chickeny plans, I poo pick daily in the coop, nest boxes & run and the whole lot gets composted when we have a major cleanout.

I think that probably any bedding you use for chickens will compost, along with the poo (and how does something so small produce so much poo?), although different materials will take different times to rot down.

[The Norfolk Turkey]

Thanks for the tips! Yeah the shavings will compost down, but a friend has been attempting to compost the same shavings for 3 years now - so I was looking for something a little quicker!! Think we may just have chickens with the same appetite for deomstic tidyness as our lads!! Got a great big bale of shavings to work through then think we might swap to one substrate throughout. Anyone tried shredded paper? Hemcore and aubiose sound to be one and the same - anyone know any stockists in w yorks? Ta!