[wannabesmallholder]

What type of bedding does everyone use for chickens? Do you have a different type of bedding in her nest boxes to in the main house? Do you put newspaper underneath? I use Aubiose bedding for horses and rabbits and love it - presumably this will be ok for the chickens? Should I put straw in the nest boxes or just aubiose in there too?
Thanks!

[Lingon]

I use dried common bracken in the nest boxes. They tangle together and my ladies can therefore not empty the nestboxes as they did when I used straw. I read that historicly it was used to prevent lice, so I gave it a try and liked it.
In the rest of the house I use wood shavings.

[Clarebelle]

If you have access to it, sand is excellent in the coop. I just use straw in the nestboxes

[Lingon]

If you have access to it, sand is excellent in the coop. I just use straw in the nestboxes

Not excellent for the enviroment: https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/feb/27/sand-mining-global-environmental-crisis-never-heard
It's better to use a renewable resource than a non-renewable one.

[chrismahon]

We use wood shavings on top of a feed bag in the nest boxes- the bag acts as a cushion and stops cracked eggs if the shavings are moved by the hen. Easy to spot red mite as well.


In the coops we now use newspaper, simply to reduce the cost and make daily poo-picking easy. But we have had to reduce the height of the perches to just 6" off the floor because we started to get cases of bumble foot, as the newspaper doesn't soften the impact of feet on the coop floor. Poo goes on the compost heap and the newspaper, once sufficiently soiled, goes in the dustbin. Some breeds go for months without new papers, others they last just a week.

[Marches Farmer]

The newspaper will rot down quite quickly on the composts heap.

[Alex_]

I loved when we got free papers through the post because they made a great layer in nest boxes. Now I just use straw through out the coop and egg box.

I do add sheets of newspaper under the straw and under that diatomaceous earth.

[Womble]

Our system is a bit different, but works well. The bottom of the henhouse gets a decent layer of either shavings or hemcore. Then above that, there is a droppings tray, and above that are the perches. Nestboxes are filled with straw.

There is a hatch at the same height as the droppings tray, which a wheelbarrow fits underneath.

To clean out, we just open the hatch and scoot everything off the droppings tray and into the wheelbarrow. Then the hemcore from the floor gets shovelled up to the droppings tray and replaced with fresh.

I have also started emptying the office shredder under the perches, which seems to rot down ok eventually.

[in the hills]

Dengie bedding.


It smells great and seems to be very absorbent. We find that they last longer between cleans than when we used shavings and it's lovely and soft.


We use it in with the quail too and they love to lie in it.


Works well in the nest boxes and cushions the eggs.

[Clarebelle]

If you have access to it, sand is excellent in the coop. I just use straw in the nestboxes

Not excellent for the enviroment: https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/feb/27/sand-mining-global-environmental-crisis-never-heard
It's better to use a renewable resource than a non-renewable one.

The poo is picked using a cat litter scoop so it doesn't require replenishing very often. It is even washable with some effort so in theory, once you put it in the coop you can use the same sand indefinitely. It also provides a dry sand bath for the hens to use whenever they choose. The sand isn't actually destroyed by using it as a substrate as it is when used for glass etc. For me, I would consider the carbon footprint of transporting in straw/woodshavings etc. worse than collecting a few buckets of sand from a local beach.

[Lingon]

If you have access to it, sand is excellent in the coop. I just use straw in the nestboxes

Not excellent for the enviroment: https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/feb/27/sand-mining-global-environmental-crisis-never-heard
It's better to use a renewable resource than a non-renewable one.

The poo is picked using a cat litter scoop so it doesn't require replenishing very often. It is even washable with some effort so in theory, once you put it in the coop you can use the same sand indefinitely. It also provides a dry sand bath for the hens to use whenever they choose. The sand isn't actually destroyed by using it as a substrate as it is when used for glass etc. For me, I would consider the carbon footprint of transporting in straw/woodshavings etc. worse than collecting a few buckets of sand from a local beach.

It's not very hygenic to reuse the sand, or are you going to boil it once a week? Or swap it at the beach endangering wild birds health?

Of course you get your wood shavings and straw localy, if you can't produce it yourself.

[doganjo]

I have also started emptying the office shredder under the perches, which seems to rot down ok eventually

All my office working friends bring me their cross shredded paper in huge bags for the floor of my garage/hen shed/coop - whatever you want to call it. 

Goes in bottom of nest boxes too with hay on top as the mucky beggars poop in that and the paper gets damp.  All gets composted in compst bin or the raised beds (2.5 feet deep)

[Womble]

LOL, once again this debate proves that smallholding is absolutely context specific!

Since Clarebelle lives in Orkney (lots of sandy beaches but very few trees), her "Best Possible Environmental Option", to use the correct jargon is quite clearly beach sand.  It's not in short supply on Orkney, and can easily be disposed of after use by putting on the garden or whatever, since a little will go a long way.

Now, I'm not sure about the sand situation in Sweden, but I'd hazard a guess that for Lingon, the most environmentally friendly option would be sustainably sourced wood shavings.

Likewise, since Doganjo and myself have a ready supply of shredded office paper, it makes sense for us to use that and to subsequently compost it.

So really the best way to read threads like this is not to read them as "what's better, A or B?", but really "what does everybody else do, and is that better for my own situation than what I currently do?"  .

[Clarebelle]

Actually, sand is very hygienic in that sort of circumstance. The chicken poo clumps the same way that it would in cat litter and can be easily removed everyday, it takes about 5 minutes to go round the whole coop and remove the poo. There is no organic matter to harbour pests, fungus or molds and nothing decomposing in a hard to reach corner and in fact allows the chickens to reduce their own pest burden through dust bathing. As I said, it is possible to wash it but I generally don't bother. When I change the sand I compost it and reuse it in my garden and replace it with local sand, this is done maybe once a year and I don't even feel a little bit guilty about that. I think that, compared to other substrates the environmental impact is tiny. My hens are happy, healthy and I have never had a problem with pests and disease. You are obviously entitled to reduce your carbon footprint any way you choose, however, I think i'll carry on doing what I'm doing, as it is my informed choice.

[Lingon]

It's not in short supply on Orkney, and can easily be disposed of after use by putting on the garden or whatever, since a little will go a long way.

Now, I'm not sure about the sand situation in Sweden, but I'd hazard a guess that for Lingon, the most environmentally friendly option would be sustainably sourced wood shavings.

Wherever you are on the planet, it's still a non-renewable resource. If we are to save the planet, we have to start using our brains more and not just think short sighted. Orkneys have grass, hay makes a good, far more hygenic and renewable bedding.

Actually, sand is very hygienic in that sort of circumstance. The chicken poo clumps the same way that it would in cat litter and can be easily removed everyday, it takes about 5 minutes to go round the whole coop and remove the poo. There is no organic matter to harbour pests, fungus or molds and nothing decomposing in a hard to reach corner and in fact allows the chickens to reduce their own pest burden through dust bathing. As I said, it is possible to wash it but I generally don't bother. When I change the sand I compost it and reuse it in my garden and replace it with local sand, this is done maybe once a year and I don't even feel a little bit guilty about that. I think that, compared to other substrates the environmental impact is tiny. My hens are happy, healthy and I have never had a problem with pests and disease. You are obviously entitled to reduce your carbon footprint any way you choose, however, I think i'll carry on doing what I'm doing, as it is my informed choice.

You actually think sand from the beach is free of organic material? Then let me tell you that it is not. On top of that, hens are dustmakers, so that sand you think it's so clean, why not look at it through a microscope and grow some of it in a petri dish? It was a bit fun that you compared clay (cat litter) to sand, they do not have the same physical properties.

Your choise is not informed.