Many chicken farmers prefer wood shavings for their nesting boxes.
Wood shavings for chicken coop.
However pine shavings contain dangerous toxins that may cause serious harm to your chickens.
Like a compost pile you begin with a layer of pine shavings or other organic matter in the browns category.
Straw is another common bedding.
I prefer it especially with the deep litter method after a long winter of adding extra bedding.
I ve read that straw can be too slippery for developing legs to walk on although i haven t honestly looked further into this.
Shavings shavings are a favorite among chicken owners and this type of bedding comes in different forms of wood.
Some prefer hay or straw and change it frequently.
Sawdust also works well but is dusty.
Wood chips are a good bedding material for your chicken coop.
So here s the rundown on some common choices for coop bedding.
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.
What are the popular choices for chicken coop bedding in the different areas of my coop.
By far the most commonly used litter is wood shavings sold in feed stores or scrounged from woodworkers.
Also only use pine shavings never cedar.
So what is my favorite chicken bedding.
If you do choose to use shavings try and get the larger chips versus smaller shavings and never use sawdust.
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.
Pine shavings are one of the most used chicken bedding materials in the united states.
You absolutely need pine wood shavings and not cedar shavings cedar oils and scent can be toxic to chickens.
What makes them an excellent material is the fact that they are mainly carbon.
For the aspect of cleaning the coop i prefer pine shavings.
Wood shavings are a really good option for chicken coop bedding.
Wood shavings have a pleasant smell are amazingly absorbent and don t pack down.
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.
Chicken poop is high in nitrogen and has a tendency to smell bad.
Go for large flake wood shavings over fine shavings too dusty and don t use sawdust way too dusty and damp.
They re loved for their absorbency cheap cost insulating properties and composting ease.
Wood chips are great in absorbing those odors.
They re used in both brooders and chicken coops.
Cedar is too aromatic and the oils have been proven to be harmful and even toxic to chickens.
We always use pine shavings for baby chicks.
Scattering corn on the coop floor encourages them.
