This is a new Page and will be added to in time. I am asked a lot of questions on different subjects and so hopefully this is the answer to some.
Question- I'd love your opinion on bedding material?
Bedding material is important because it can become an irritant which can cause respiratory and or gut problems. I actually had a person contact me who was prepared to drive here from a long way for me to look at his sick birds but he didn't need to as his bedding was fine, dusty and mold ridden.
Bedding material can get really technical. WE grow crops so I especially request my bedding straw as short, yellow, baled in just right conditions. I usually request Barley or Wheat straw.
I have tried Rice hulls which are okay but it has been known to cause eye irritation by getting into the eye.
Wood shavings are expensive over a large area and you have to be careful not to get any from treated pine. I use Wood shavings in the brooders.
Our pens are cemented with a straw covering over them and like drenching I try to clean them out each school holidays all 70 of them.
Hay is usually too soft and fine and so encourages pests because the chickens can’t move it around easily. I have had some canola straw which is okay because it is hard it breaks easily and so the birds can break it down easily. I personally haven’t used pea or coconut straw but it is all the same you need to be looking for mold or too old stuff.
In desperate times I have even tried shredded newspaper. The only other thing is to feed often, greens from the garden too much for them to eat and so it dries and turns into mulch. I even chop up my own broad bean plants and dry them or corn plants at the end of the season. You could dry your own grass just by hanging clumps drying it and then putting it in as bedding. But all these things take time.
I use Wood chips or gravel in the really muddy areas which are good. Here I have slotted pvc pipe with gravel over the top in my major wet areas.