By far the most commonly used litter is wood shavings sold in feed stores or scrounged from woodworkers.
Wood shavings for chicken coop.
Some prefer hay or straw and change it frequently.
Pine shavings are one of the most used chicken bedding materials in the united states.
If you do choose to use shavings try and get the larger chips versus smaller shavings and never use sawdust.
Go for large flake wood shavings over fine shavings too dusty and don t use sawdust way too dusty and damp.
So what is my favorite chicken bedding.
They re loved for their absorbency cheap cost insulating properties and composting ease.
What makes them an excellent material is the fact that they are mainly carbon.
Pine shavings are commonly used for chicken coops as they re more absorbent than most other materials have insulating properties are low in cost and widely available and can be used for the deep litter method and composting.
Pine shavings are touted as safe for chickens health and many packages even have pictures of chickens on them.
Scattering corn on the coop floor encourages them.
Wood chips are a good bedding material for your chicken coop.
So here s the rundown on some common choices for coop bedding.
Sawdust also works well but is dusty.
Many chicken farmers prefer wood shavings for their nesting boxes.
Straw is another common bedding.
They re used in both brooders and chicken coops.
Wood shavings have a pleasant smell are amazingly absorbent and don t pack down.
I love to use shavings due to odor control and ease of cleaning.
Also only use pine shavings never cedar.
Shavings shavings are a favorite among chicken owners and this type of bedding comes in different forms of wood.
Wood chips are great in absorbing those odors.
The high nitrogen chicken poop is the green simply add enough shavings to keep the floor composting nicely and the chickens do the aeration for you with their scratching behavior.
I ve read that straw can be too slippery for developing legs to walk on although i haven t honestly looked further into this.
The most common kinds of shavings are pine and cedar although there is a lot of talk about the possibility of cedar being toxic to chickens.
Whichever you select remember to keep it dry and ensure that the chickens aren t suffering from any respiratory issues.
I prefer it especially with the deep litter method after a long winter of adding extra bedding.
What are the popular choices for chicken coop bedding in the different areas of my coop.
We always use pine shavings for baby chicks.
However pine shavings contain dangerous toxins that may cause serious harm to your chickens.
Cedar is too aromatic and the oils have been proven to be harmful and even toxic to chickens.
Chicken poop is high in nitrogen and has a tendency to smell bad.
You absolutely need pine wood shavings and not cedar shavings cedar oils and scent can be toxic to chickens.
For the aspect of cleaning the coop i prefer pine shavings.
