Which bedding should you use in your chicken coop? (2024)

Deciding which bedding to use in your chicken coop is important because bedding (or bedding) plays a role in the daily care and overall health of your flock. It doesn't matter if you areplanning a chicken coopfor your first flock or if you are considering switching to better bedding for your backyard flock, it is a good idea to evaluate the pros and cons of each bedding option.

The bedding in the chicken coop helps control droppings (chicken poop), keeps the coop clean and provides a soft and insulating floor for your flock. Understanding the different types of cat litter can help you decide which cat litter is best for your chicken coop.

Advantages and disadvantages of bedding materials for chicken coops

The comfort and cleanliness of your chicken coop are critical to the long-term health and success of your flock. This makes choosing the best bedding for your flock's needs a decision that requires some thought and planning.Here issomeadvantages and disadvantages of the most common waste materials together withhow and why they work.

Wood curls

Wood shavings are a popular and quite common bedding material for use in the chicken coop. They are usually inexpensive to purchase and can be purchased from local farm shops. Wood shavings are also absorbent and help control moisture from the feces. However, they will require daily to weekly maintenance to prevent the wood shavings from becoming oversaturated or tangled.

Maintenance of wood shavings

To preserve the wood shavings, stir and turn them frequently to mix the droppings. A long rake usually works well. If you use a daily stool removal system to remove nighttime feces, you only need to stir the wood chips weekly.

Even with regular maintenance, wood chips still need to be completely replaced approximately every 3 to 4 months. Cleaning up the yard can be time-consuming and expensive, depending on how many bags of wood chips you have to buy for each cleanup.

Each time you clean the old, dirty wood chips, you will want to replace them with a layer of fresh wood chips about 6 to 6 inches thick. Wood chips will compost and break down over time, making them a great bedding material to add to the compost pile when you clean up the garden!

Selection of the best wood shavings for your chicken coop

When choosing wood chips, make sure you choose large chips. Large flakes are less dusty and are less likely to be accidentally eaten by the chickens. Avoid using cedar shavings and choose pine or aspen shavings instead. It is also a good idea to use a litter box or other waste management system to collect the nightly droppings to extend the life of the wood shavings.

Wood shavings make a good chicken coop bedding for novice chicken keepers because they are readily available locally and easy to maintain.

Benefit

• Absorbent
• Fairly economical
• Easy daily or weekly maintenance

Cons

• Requires regular replacement
• Does not retain heat well in cold temperatures

Straw

Straw is one of the most popular choices for chicken coop bedding for northern chicken keepers.Straw is an excellent insulator, making it ideal for use in cold winter weather. Not only does it insulate well, it is also easy to maintain and chickens love sorting through straw!

Straw is often used as part of the deep bedding, which promotes the composting of feces and prevents ammonia fumes from building up in the coop in winter. As the straw begins to compost, it can also generate heat, which is useful in the winter. Although straw is not used as part of the deep bedding, the hollow shafts still help retain heat in cold weather.

Although straw is not very absorbent, it can help control moisture from feces by encouraging the composting process.

Your flock will search the straw flakes for bits of grain, causing a lot of boredom, but they probably won't be inclined to eat the long straw stalks unless they are very hungry!

Straw should not be used in warm areas where it could cause the coop to become too hot.

Maintaining straw in your chicken coop

Straw should be maintained daily to weekly to prevent feces from becoming entangled or oversaturating the top layer of straw. As with wood shavings, regular turning is necessary to mix the feces into the straw. Regular turning also helps to aerate the waste and promote the composting process.

If you use an excrement management system such as manure slabs, the straw only needs to be stirred weekly.

Straw should be replaced every 3 to 4 months because it composts and can become too saturated with feces. This replacement cycle allows you to use straw as winter and fall bedding and then replace the straw with another bedding for spring and summer.

You replace the dirty straw every time,you'll want to put down a new layer of straw about 5 to 6 inches thick. Old, dirty straw can be added to the compost pile.

Choose the best straw for your chicken coop

Make sure you buy good quality straw balesno hay. Straw has hollow shafts and is considered bedding for livestock. Hay is dried grass and is considered animal feed, not bedding.

When you first introduce your flock to straw, you may be concernedaffected crop. Ingestion of too much long fibrous material (such as pieces of straw) can lead to damaged crops. To avoid a blighted crop, choose quality straw with long stems and monitor your flock to ensure they are not interested in eating the straw.

Benefit

• Composts well with feces
• Can generate heat if you use the deep bottom method
• Helps retain heat during cold temperatures
• Easy daily or weekly maintenance
• Economic
• Can be used for the deep bottom method

Cons

• Can cause damaged crops, not suitable for use in hot weather

• Organic straw and difficult to obtain in some places
• Chemically treated straw can be dangerous to chickens
• Mold can develop if it is not replaced often

Ham

Hemp bedding continues to rise in popularity. This unique material offers a natural and environmentally friendly alternative to straw for chickens and nesting boxes. This material is made from the stems of the cannabis plant and is a natural and very useful byproduct of the growing hemp industry.

Hemp offers excellent absorbency while reducing odor (and the flies the scent attracts). In fact, most hemp bedding has a higher absorbency than pine shavings and straw, with an absorbency of 400% compared to pine's 250% absorbency and 125% straw.

It is also extremely soft compared to other types of straw, and most hemp straws are chemical-free. In addition to being pleasant for your flock, hemp also offers:natural resistance to mites and other insects. Additionally, many hemp litters are cheaper than their pine and straw counterparts.

Finally, hemp is relatively dust-free, which is good for your chicken's respiratory health.

Maintenance of your hemp bedding

When it comes to keeping your chicken coop clean, hemp bedding provides long-lasting odor and mess control and is easy to clean.

We recommend that you clean your chicken coop almost daily, removing any dirty hemp waste. However, you can turn and change your hemp bedding about every two weeks.

Replace all your hemp bedding and start over every 3 to 4 months. Your dirty hemp litter can be composted! Hemp even offers a fast compost speed compared to straw.

Benefit:

• More cost-effective over time due to its long-lasting absorbency
• Environmentally friendly
• Superior absorbency and odor control
• Soft texture
• Natural pest control
• Easy to clean
• Less sensitive to mold growth compared to straw

Cons:

• May not be available in all feed or bulk boxes

Sand

Sand is another chicken coop option that most people consider. Sand has a reasonably good absorbent capacity and is a well-drained soil cover. One of the reasons why many chicken keepers choose to use sand is that it can be more beneficial in the long run than wood shavings or straw. As long as the sand is properly maintained, it does not need to be replaced as often as wood shavings or straw.

It may seem expensive at first to buy sand for the chicken coop, but you don't have to buy sand as often as wood chips or straw, which can ultimately save you money and time.

Sand acts as a good temperature stabilizer in the garden. In cold temperatures, the sand can ensure that the coop remains at a stable, warmer temperature. This is especially true when the daytime hours are warmer, which can warm up the garden and retain heat inside. Sand can also ensure that the garden remains cool in hot weather. As long as the indoor temperature of the garden remains reasonably cool, the sand will help insulate against the warmer ambient temperatures outside.

Sand is a good bedding material to use in temperate climates and can be an economical bedding choice. However, it needs to be cleaned daily.

Maintain sand for your Coop waste

With proper maintenance, you may only need to replace the sand in the chicken coop every 1 to 3 years. You should also ensure that the sand is at least 4 to 4 inches thick to maximize absorbency and drainage.

Although sand is good at absorbing and removing moisture, it will not compost the feces, allowing it to build up if not removed. A daily cleaning routine should be maintained to remove manure from the sand.

The disadvantage of sand comes from regular maintenance. For wood shavings and straw, all you need to do is stir the droppings occasionally. Sand, on the other hand, you must clean up the feces daily to prevent it from accumulating.

Nighttime defecation management systems can minimize the amount of manure ending up in the sand at night. With a cat litter scoop you can sift feces from the sand all day every day.

Sand = Dust

Sand also has a tendency to get dusty. Because it is used more often in the garden, it has more time to collect and collect the dust naturally produced by chickens (chicken dust). If you use dusty chicken feed, the sand will also become dusty and can be difficult to clean without creating a dust cloud. Minimize the amount of dust trapped by sand by feeding your flockfeeding with a low dust contentand regularly vacuum windows and other surfaces in the coop where dust collects.

Selection of sand for your Coop waste

When purchasing sand, make sure you buy coarse, construction-grade sand and not play sand. Play sand is usually treated with chemicals that can be harmful to your flock. Construction sand is coarser and will drain and absorb moisture better. The coarser structure also prevents the chicks from accidentally ingesting too many fine sand particles, which is possiblellead to problems with the crop.

Benefit

• Good absorbency and good drainage
• Reasonably economical because no regular replacement is required
• Provides a natural source of gravel
• A good temperature stabilizer

Cons

• Needs to be cleaned daily
• Does not compost
• Can become dusty due to dusty food and long-term use

Natural bedding

Natural bedding can be an economical choice for your chicken coop. Natural waste includes the use of dried leaves ordried pine needlesas a chicken coop.

The most important factor to remember when using natural cat litter is that the leaves or pine needles MUST be completely dry. Natural waste that is still damp when placed in the garden will grow mold and become dangerous to your flock.

Natural waste helps compost the droppings in the chicken coop. You should start with a layer about 6 to 6 inches thick, and you should turn or stir the litter daily or weekly to ensure the poop doesn't get mixed up. Stirring also promotes the composting process. Using a nighttime waste management system such as manure slabs can help extend the life of the natural waste.

Natural cat litter can be an economical choice if you have access to a free source and you take the precautions to ensure that the litter is completely dry before using it in the cage.

Maintenance of natural waste in your chicken coop

Natural waste also needs to be replaced more often than wood shavings or straw. Because they break down so quickly, natural litter should be replaced as often as necessary, or at least every 2 to 3 months. However, they can still be an economical waste option if you have access to a free or inexpensive source of dried leaves or pine needles.

Selecting the best natural waste for your home

If you use dried leaves or pine needles as natural waste, make sure you collect the waste in a safe place. Avoid sources that may contain traces of chemicals or pesticides that are harmful to your flock. When collecting dried leaves, also try to avoid using oak leaves, which contain more harmful tannins than leaves from other trees.

Benefit

• Helps compost the waste
• Economic
• Can be used in combination with the deep soil method
• Will generate some heat during composting

Cons

• Must be completely dry
• Exposed to mold and moisture accumulation
• Not very absorbent
• Requires daily maintenance to prevent feces build-up
• Not good insulators or temperature stabilizers

Shredded paper

Although shredded paper can be used as chicken coop bedding, it is not a highly recommended bedding material for long-term garden use. One reason why shredded paper is used as chicken coop bedding is that it can be beneficial if you have access to a free or low-cost source.

However, it poses many concerns for the health of your flock and is usually a high maintenance bedding material. Shredded paper is very absorbent, which is a good quality in chicken coop bedding. However, it is so absorbent that it softens quickly and does not dry out well. Wet waste promotes the formation of ammonia fumes, can become moldy and creates manure mats in the coop.

Maintenance of your shredded paper bedding

Due to its highly absorbent nature, shredded paper should be replaced monthly or as often as weekly if it becomes too moist.

As with wood shavings and straw, shredded paper should be stirred or turned daily to mix the feces. Since it takes a lot of time to compost shredded paper, it doesn't handle poop well even if you touch the shredded paper daily. Using a nighttime droppings management system is extremely helpful when using shredded paper to minimize the amount of droppings that accumulate in the nest.

It is important that you have a thick layer of shredded paper, at least 6 inches thick, so that the chickens have adequate bedding. Shredded paper can become dull very quickly, so you may need to save more daily if it's not quite ready for a complete change or

Choosing the best paper for your Coop waste

When using shredded paper, avoid using shredded paper with a high ink content. The ink makes the paper less absorbent and can become slippery when wet.

Shredded paper is also dangerous if chickens accidentally eat the waste, especially shredded paper that has been heavily inked. Accidental waste consumption can happen when waste is thrown into the feeder, thrown into the water source, or stuck on treats or snacks you feed the flock.

Ultimately, shredded paper is probably not the best bedding choice for the chicken coop. If necessary, use shredded paper as emergency waste if you cannot immediately obtain another type of waste while cleaning the stable.

Benefit:

• Could be financial

Cons

• Extremely absorbent, which makes it soft quickly
• Strongly colored paper is slippery for chickens to walk on
• Potentially hazardous if swallowed
• Does not compost easily

Choose the right waste for your home

Good bedding in the chicken coop absorbs moisture from the droppings and makes it easier to clean up the droppings, or composts the droppings directly in the garden. Choosing the best bedding for your chicken coop depends on your budget, how much time you have to maintain the bedding, the sources of litter in your area and the weather patterns in your region.

Northern chicken keepers who experience cold weather year-round may choose straw as a good bedding material. In temperate or warm areas, wood shavings or sand are a better option. Natural waste can be a good option if you have access to large amounts of dry natural waste sources.

Ultimately, you want the bedding in the chicken coop to provide a comfortable surface for your flock to walk on and to be functional for handling droppings. Proper bedding and litter maintenance will keep the farm fresh and smelling good, leading to a happy, healthy flock!

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