Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens (19 page)
Read Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens Online
Authors: Gail Damerow
Is absorbent
Dries quickly
Is easy to handle
Doesn’t pack readily
Has medium-size particles
Is low in thermal conductivity
Is free of mustiness and mold
Has not been treated with toxic chemicals
Makes good compost and fertilizer
Of all the different kinds of litter I’ve tried over the years, wood shavings (especially pine) remain my favorite because they’re easy to manage — but they’re also quite expensive. Chopped straw is a good alternative. Wheat straw is best, followed by rye, oat, and buckwheat, in that order. Chopped straw, especially mixed with shredded corncobs and stalks, makes nice loose, fluffy bedding. On the other hand, straw that hasn’t been chopped mats easily and when combined with moist droppings and trampled by the chickens, creates an impenetrable mass that’s difficult to clean up. A good alternative to chopped straw is well-dried clippings from a lawn or pasture that wasn’t sprayed with toxins — the operative phrases here are “well dried” and “wasn’t sprayed.”
Dried leaves are sometimes plentiful but pack too readily to make good bedding. Rice hulls and peanut hulls are cheap in some areas but are not absorbent enough to make good litter. Shredded paper is at least as good as rice or peanut hulls and is inexpensive, but tends to retain moisture and to mat, so it must be replaced often. In some areas it’s sold by the bale, or you can make your own, given lots of newsprint and a shredder. Coated (shiny) paper is not absorbent enough for this purpose.
Deep litter insulates chickens in the winter and lets them keep cool by burrowing in on hot summer days. Start young birds on bedding a minimum of 4 inches (10 cm) deep and work up to 8 inches (20 cm) by the time they
are mature. When litter around the doorway, under roosts, or around feeders becomes packed, break it up with a hoe or rake. Around waterers or doorways, remove wet patches of litter and add fresh dry litter (and fix leaks).
DUST BATHING |
Chickens enjoy frequent dust baths to keep their feathers clean and in good condition, which helps prevent injuries and control body temperature. Chickens wallow in dust or litter and work it through their feathers by flapping their wings and kicking their legs. If they’re bathing outdoors in the warm sun, sometimes one will lie so still in a wallow that you’re tempted to think she’s dead. When they’re done dusting, they stand up and shake themselves, and you can see the dust billowing out. |
Outside, chickens dig holes in the dirt or sand. A dust hole near a gate or doorway is inconvenient and potentially dangerous for an unwary human who steps into it. Paving in these areas prevents dusting, provided the paving extends beyond the shelter’s drip line. Otherwise, during wet weather your chickens will dust out a nice big hole for you to trip over in that dry strip of ground between the pavement and the drip line. |
Chickens confined indoors, or kept inside during rainy weather, dust in litter. If your coop floor is mostly covered with droppings boards or wire, provide a section of litter where several chickens can dust at the same time. A bright light will encourage them to use the litter for dusting instead of as a community nest for laying eggs. |
Under droppings boards, after each cleaning spread at least 2 inches (5 cm) of litter beneath the boards to absorb moisture from manure and make it easier to scoop up. An easy-to-manage combination system is to place droppings boards beneath perches where the majority of droppings accumulate and have open litter everywhere else. Your chickens won’t be able to get to the manure piles beneath the droppings boards but will have the open-litter area to dust and scratch in, stirring up the bedding and keeping it light and loose. To encourage scratching, scatter a handful of grain over the litter each day, and let the flock scramble for it.
Wild chickens roost in trees. Many of our domestic breeds are too heavy to fly up as high as a tree limb but still like to perch off the ground. You can make a perch from an old ladder or anything else strong enough to hold chickens and rough
enough for them to grip, but without being so splintery it injures their feet. If you use new lumber, round off the corners so your chickens can wrap their toes around it. Plastic pipe and metal pipe do not make good roosts; they’re too smooth for chickens to grasp firmly. Given a choice, chickens prefer to roost on something flat, like a 2 by 2.
ROOSTS OVER DROPPINGS PIT
