David

[Ashmeads Kernel]

I am a newbie to chickens, and was studying the difference between wood shavings and wood chips when I wondered if I can make my own material.

 

I have a lot of pruning branches I shred, and if I restrict it to fine branches and leaves shredded fairly finely, can these be used as bedding when dry?

 

Thanks for any thoughts.

 

Andrew

[Pottage]

I'm also new to this (chicken Mummy for an entire week yesterday!) so may well be wrong here, but have read a lot online about being careful with anything that contains dust as it can cause the chooks respiratory problems.

 

Husband is a carpenter so produces lots of stuff we could probably use for free, but I still always use Aubiose. I like it especially because when they poo (and oh my God, how can so much poo come from such a little bird?!) on it it completely masks the smell and flies don’t even know it is there.

[gavclojak]

I also sprinkle nettex ground sanitizer on the auboise, it really helps this time of year..

[Lavenders_Blue]

I think if you mean for use in the nest box, then I would probably say no. Wood shavings work well because they are absorbent and as chickens like to poop in the nest box (at least mine do) plus the odd egg that gets broken, you ideally need an absorbent bedding in the nest box.

For the floor of the run, your shredded material would be great

[sjp]

the leaves will be the problem as they start to ferment as they rot when in a pile of shredding and they give of a lot of heat which in turn causes mould to grow rapidly in the pile/heap leave a pile of fresh shredding in a heap for a day or two and you'll see how hot it'll get in less than a week it'll be full of mouldy dry leaves until it rains great for the compost bin but not for chickens or the person that's moving it I spend an hour or so doing my lottie paths yesterday with 6 day old chips that are about 60% leaf

if you'd got dry old wood and you could get some of the dust out of the shredding then it might be ok in the run

[Chickabee]

I asked a local tree surgeon if I could buy some of his shredded wood. He said no, it's not suitable for chickens due to the spores. I think it kind of ferments then you can be left with nasty stuff. He said even poultry farmers won't use it

[Alex_LJZ]

I just buy easychick for bedding (if you really mean bedding in boxes, not floor covering) it is cheap and composts quickly. I find it clumps when it gets poo on it so I shake it through a litter tray scoop each morning which takes the poo out, then replace in once a week. My bag lasts 3 hens about 6 months for £5.

 

Interested about the idea of NOT using general chippings and leaves etc as flooring to the run though. That is pretty much what wild hens would do, or even truly free ranging ones - mine head straight for the trees if they get out and kick around in the composing leaves. Also, I have read lots about deep litter methods for keeping hens, where you just put all your composting in the run and dig out every now and then.