[Chippet]

Hi
Had my hens 1 week, originally laid down newspaper inside the house and a layer of easibed to absorb the poop...but it's getting into a real mess, the hens tear up the paper and it looks a real mess.

What do people recommend, just easibed? Just newspaper? So far I down think the hens and roosting, just cuddling up on the floor in a corner, is this normal?

Many thanks!!

[loretta cluck]

My 6 do their own thing, in that most choose the floor and nest boxes to cuddle up to at bedtime....i put dust free shavings on the coop floor, but have to poo pick every day so theyre not cuddling up onto last nights poo - (think the ammonia can burn their chests) - I've only had them 6 months and as times gone by, one or two of them have chosen to roost on the perches....shavings work perfectly well for me, and smell nice too!

[snow white]

Mine took a month to roost.  Just use lavender shavings (easi bed I think..) and clean once a week (only have two chooks.)  I used to clean the poop out daily when they slept on the floor.

[Fiona55]

Hi  I am a novice chhok keeper - approx 6 months.  I have access to free sawdust.  Have had no problems so far.  Also if you get a cat litter scope it is easy to remove droppings daily and leave behind sawdust.  I remove droppings daily & completely renew sawdust once a week. 

[jhub]

Hi Fiona,
It's great to have access to freebies but a word of warning about sawdust- it can cause respiratory problems in your chooks. Dust extracted shavings are preferable.
Good luck

[symonep]

go to your local sadlery they do some really reasonable bedding. I use aubiose and it is so much better than the sawdust i used to use.

[wildwitchy]

I use any bedding suitable for horses from my local tack shop, like hemcore or rapport. They usually have citronella added to deter flys & it smells good for a while. I used to sprinkle gardening lime (not builders down when I had my wooden huts to combat any insects and smells.

[CDave]

Never sawdust or shavings - takes ages to compost. I use any hemp based product for stables by itself without paper - nedzbedz, aubiose, hemcore etc. Frequent poop picking helps.

[Dawnuss]

Hemcore is really good i find it keeps smell down for longer (actually smells quite nice) I did make the mistake a couple of weeks ago at going to the timber yard where they supplied dust extracted shavings for stable that cost me £3 for 20kg to put on the floor of there run.  I bought 60kg as it was so cheap and when i opened it the majority of it was moldy Its smells nowhere near as good as the hemcore so i have learnt cheap isnt always better. As for newspaper my chooks do the same i do wonder why i still bother putting any in   

[wildwitchy]

I also put a ripped open feed bag under the perches to collect the poo, you can then just chuck it / compost it, after a couple days & it keeps the bedding clean for a while.

[Oakdalebirds1]

Hi all

I poo pick every other day and share these between my garden water butt and my compost heap.
my garden this year is greener than ever and my veg plot ...well i think i shall enter a few  (large) in my local village show.
i do agree with the wood shavings though taking forever to compost down , Hemcore is working best for me at the moment.
I also asked a few neighbours if they wanted a bit of the chicken poo bedding on clean out day and now i get left 3 buckets  to share it between (collected that same day , some even leave egg box's when needing a refill and im always happy to share as they hen watch when we go on holiday so its a win win alround)
im sure the gardeners on here will agree a little chicken poo goes along way .
good luck with your bedding

[wildwitchy]

Oh poultry poo is brilliant for the garden. I used to keep geese and where they used to wander and live i've planted flowers and shrubs now. They have gone berzerk! I gave it a good dig over before planting and the soil was wonderful. I also use the duck pond water to water with-it stinks but the plants love it. This year has been the best year ive had for flowers. I can't keep up with the plants growing!

[gracie]

We have a slatted wooden floor raised approx 1 inch off the floor of the coop, it was cheap to make and very effective. I put newspaper on floor with dust free sawdust on top. I poo pick thoroughly one weekend and change the flooring the next. I scoop up anything that doesn't fall through the slats with a dustpan and little trowel so they hardly ever stand in any poop.

[Taylor40]

Same as others have said... My girls have gradually changed from huddling up together on the floor to now most of them prefer to perch. I use small flake wood shavings (horse bedding) and poo pick every day with a cat litter scoop...

[Geo]

The coop came with one roosting bar and not all of the hens would use it. I changed the set up and now have 4 bars running parallel with each other like a cattle grid. This has stopped them from sleeping on the floor in the main part of the coop.
Just read gracies post 
Appear to have the same set up.
I use hemcore on top of newspaper and poo pick or top up hemcore as required. With a full clean out once a week