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I'm going to need another bag of bedding for the hens next week, and I wondered what people thought about good old-fashioned straw, rather than fancy plastic-wrapped shavings? We've always bought dust-extracted shavings, but it occurred to me earlier that hens must have bedded down on straw for centuries, and not suffered from respitory infections. Bales of straw are easily and pretty cheaply available around here. Is there a good reason not to use it?
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Is there anything that isn't made better by half an hour pottering in the veg patch? -
I used straw for a while,but moved over to shredded paper some tome ago,it's a lot easier to clear up if it gets soiled & free
He who smiles in the face of adversity,has already decided who to blame
Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity
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Problem with bales of straw and hay is that they are full of mites etc.
We use heat treated hay for our bunnies and have never had a problem...but it's much more expensive of course!"Nicos, Queen of Gooooogle" and... GYO's own Miss Marple
Location....Normandy FranceComment
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Ah, I hadn't thought of that. I really don't want to introduce mites. Thanks for the heads up on that.Is there anything that isn't made better by half an hour pottering in the veg patch?Comment
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I use straw for our hens, I have had one mite out break but all is ok now. Actually it didn't occur to me to use anything else.
I just wanted to add that we use the same straw for our guinea pigs and they do not have mites either, although had an outbreak a few years ago.Last edited by Verinda; 23-08-2014, 08:43 PM.The best things in life are not things.Comment
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I use straw as well and have no problem with it. This year I haven't even had red mite for the first time ever!!!Gardening requires a lot of water - most of it in the form of perspiration. Lou Erickson, critic and poetComment
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We used to have an old chaff cutter, it chops straw into tiny 1/2 inch pieces and makes brilliant bedding and nesting material. They made some good modern compact machines now. if your paying for bedding it could be a good investment. Makes great compost and mulch too.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bosch-RAPID-...FSEcwwodwj0AZQLast edited by Bill HH; 24-08-2014, 08:47 AM.photo album of my garden in my profile http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...my+garden.htmlComment
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I keep ferrets (not in the same run before anyone says anything silly) as well so it is shavings for my lot. For some reason when I used straw for the ferrets it encouraged ticks - so never againComment
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The shredded paper is not popular in the nesting boxes for my chooks. They prefer the fallout from the horses hayshed. We've had one crawling beasie episode and it was when I was using shredded paper and packaged shavings.
The wild birds have mites, so it's not the hay that brings them, but it can be good for them to live in.Ali
My blog: feral007.com/countrylife/
Some days it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints!
One bit of old folklore wisdom says to plant tomatoes when the soil is warm enough to sit on with bare buttocks. In surburban areas, use the back of your wrist. Jackie French
Member of the Eastern Branch of the Darn Under Nutter's Club
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The prospect of mites or ticks isn't very appealling - we've never had it in x years of hen-keeping (famous last words!) and though I know it's inevitable some time, I don't want to put my head in the noose deliberately!Is there anything that isn't made better by half an hour pottering in the veg patch?Comment
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We are now using straw in the outside pen for our shared chickens. (we share them with our neighbor) With the rainy season about to start (hahahahaha rain would be nice) the straw will make the ground less muddy for the poor girls' feet and keep them cleaner. Also they like to shuffle about in the straw looking for tasty tit-bits, stops them getting bored as well.Just think happy thoughtsComment
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