Can You Use Pine Wood Shavings For Chickens

They re loved for their absorbency cheap cost insulating properties and composting ease.

Can you use pine wood shavings for chickens.

I ve read that straw can be too slippery for developing legs to walk on although i haven t honestly looked further into this. 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. I love to use shavings due to odor control and ease of cleaning. Pine shavings are touted as safe for chickens health and many packages even have pictures of chickens on them.

Like a compost pile you begin with a layer of pine shavings or other organic matter in the browns category. You absolutely need pine wood shavings and not cedar shavings cedar oils and scent can be toxic to chickens. Go for large flake wood shavings over fine shavings too dusty and don t use sawdust way too dusty and damp. Pine shavings are one of the most used chicken bedding materials in the united states.

Pine wood shavings are an obvious choice but there are other things to consider before you fill your brooder with pine shavings. I was annoyed that even after cleaning out the coops i would still collect dirty eggs. Easily attainable shavings can be picked up at local feed stores. Scattering corn on the coop floor encourages them.

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. In most instances you should wait until your new chicks are 3 4 weeks old before placing all pine shavings in the brooder. I used pine shavings for years with my chickens. We use flake wood shavings from tractor supply co.

We always use pine shavings for baby chicks. What to use as bedding for your baby chicks is an important consideration. 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. That s when i discovered hemp bedding.

Or the feed store which are sold in a compressed cube. I usually wait until my chicks are 3 4 weeks old before i use straight pine shavings in my brooder. It is much easier to clean shavings than it is to clean knotted wet straw. Shavings are a favorite among chicken owners and this type of bedding comes in different forms of wood.

Pine wood shavings are the obvious choice but there are a few other things you should also consider before you just fill your brooder boxes with pine shavings each week.