Nesting/ Litter preferences

[Guest]

I was wondering who had preferences on types of material in nesting boxes and floor litter.  I had free ranged my birds initially, but have enclosed them now in a 6x36 side of my barn.  I\'ve been using pine shavings for litter and grass hay for nesting, but recently I had gotten poor quality of both (stemmy hay that made crappy nests and really fine sawdust instead of nice big shavings.)  I recall the best shavings I can get around here are called \"Suncoast\" and now I remember the couple of places that stock it regularly.  Does anyone use shavings or sawdust for nesting?  Am I crazy, or are my hens actually eating the hay, too?  

Thanks, and apologies for all the newbie type questions.

[bantamhill]

Straw and hay is a lot of fun for chickens. I personally do not enjoy using shavings or pine bedding, although I do from time to time.

If you are using hay, they may be finding seeds and things to eat!

Michael

[Mike Gilbert]

I much prefer the  dried pine shavings we can purchase through our local farmers cooperative.   They are screened, so have no fine dust or sawdust that tends to pack, and the chickens love the fresh shavings when we put them down.   I don\'t like straw or anything else with hollow stems, as that makes an ideal place for mites and lice to live and multiply.  We do use grass hay for nesting boxes, but shavings work OK for that too.   No matter what is used, we make sure it gets a sprinkling of 5% Sevin dust, both in the nests and on the floor to discourage the insect pests.    It doesn\'t seem to have any harmful effect on the birds.  We do sprinkle the \"fines\" of alfalfa hay, consisting primarily of leaves, in the pens for the birds to pick over.   Everybody seems to have their own system, but this works for us.

[John]

FYI, I use straw on the floors in the big chicken coop (it\'s only $1.50/bale).  I use wood shavings in the nest boxes and also on the floors of small breeding coops (it\'s easier to clean).

[Guest]

I wish I could find a bale of anything for $1.50.  Even the straw was $6 the other day.  phooey!  Grass hay bales are about $9 and alfalfa is $12.  None of that would be of such significance with just the chickens, but a dozen thoroughbreds can hoover right through some alfalfa quicker than you can say \"boo\".

[Guest]

I use saw dust in my houses. I get it by the truck load free. I have to load the truck but it does not take long. Any place that cuts a lot of wood is usually happy to have you cart off the saw dust.

I use hay in my nest boxes.

Tim