Bedding Materials for the Chickens

When deciding on bedding for your hen house or coop, a consideration will be the cost of the possible materials. While the cost may be your most prominent initial concern, the upkeep of the material of your choice should also be considered.
A material with low cost and high maintenance might not be the best choice for you and an investment in a higher quality material might better suit your needs and that of your chickens. In this section we discuss the more common options for bedding.

Shavings

Shavings are often considered a high quality choice, however recently this option has seen a fairly substantial price hike.
As well as suffering from higher prices, shavings have become even harder to find. It is believed this could be the result of the recent decline in the building industry.

Shavings however do make quite a nice bedding choice, being both pleasing to the eye and very absorbent. After refreshing the henhouse with shavings, chickens and hens will often cover themselves in the new bedding, tossing it around, but leaving the whole chicken house smelling wonderful.

Another advantage of shavings is in its cleaning properties. When using shavings all you need to do is rotate them with a fork exposing the dry side, thus leaving a full cleaning for a later date and allowing you to get more out of your bedding. It is important to note that shavings are not advisable if you have small chicks. Chicks often mistake the shavings for food.

Overall shavings are the perfect deep litter system. While sometimes costly, they are a low maintenance option that will minimise cleaning time. The warmth they also provide is perfect for cold weather. It is important to remember that deep litter can rot a wooden floor, which could make this not a great option if this is the case in your chicken house. A wood yard can be the best place to seek out these shavings and if you’re lucky you might be able to get some at low prices.

Wood Chips

Since the price of wood chip and its availability is often a problem, maybe you should look at something else to use for your chickens. Some places are only selling wood chips on a ration basis in order to keep up with the demand. Wood chips seem to get dirty faster and need to be changed more often but they are good for the young chicks.

Shredded Paper

Shredded paper is very easy to come by and in many cases it can be found for free. Shredded paper is great for the environment since most paper is biodegradable; this is great all of us now interested in recycling.

To keep your costs low you can purchase a paper shredder at your local office supply store. These are inexpensive and easy to use. You can also use the old fashion method of tearing the paper with your hands. Shredded paper is also great because it acts as a blanket so your young chicks will have an easy time staying dry and warm.

Shredded paper does not need any special disposal. It can simply be thrown away or put into your compost pile. The problems with it is that when it is wet, paper is hard to handle without something to scoop it up with. Wet paper has a tendency to fall apart easily so you will need to keep this in mind when cleaning your chicks bedding.

Hay

Hay can be a breading ground for pests that can cause your chicks harm. Fleas and mites as well as the dust caused by moving the hay around can irritate your chick’s skin and their eyes. Hay also allows only the liquid to flow to the bottom and the solid stays on top.

Straw

Chickens like straw since it is similar to natural grass. It is warm and great for scratching around in. Chickens enjoy looking for their food and pecking it through the straw since the foods and grains will easily fall through to the bottom of their beds. Wheat straw is probably the best choice since it will drain better. Straw will also seem to clean itself.

Your chickens like to forage for their food and scratch this will turn the straw over and make your bed appear fresh. Don’t think that this will mean that it will not need to be cleaned out. You will still have to clean the straw out regularly and replace it with fresh. Remember this is also biodegradable so thrown it in your yard or garden.

Chickens are not picky birds. They do not care if you buy the most expensive bedding or use your daily newspaper. They like their beds to be free and clean of moisture and bugs and pests.

Remember the cleaner and healthier your chickens the more eggs they will produce.