Advise for a newey please

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Hello
My 4 chooks arrive on sun 2xOrps and 2 x 16 week old hens (they are coming from the same home). I'm having trouble deciding what to put on the floor of my coop... Shavings or Ecobed (if i can find a local supplier) I was chatting to a chap yesterday who uses shreaded paper... what are your thoughts on that?? I thought it would be too dusty. I have decided to put straw in my next box's and a little mite powder (again as advised)

Some sound advise would be helpful. please

Tori
 
Hi Tori,

Welcome! and congratulations on joining the poultry keeping hobby...

I have used Wood Shavings (dust extracted like you get for horses) for many years however there is still a certain level of dust created. I'm currently using both Ecopetbed and woodshavings in my houses (Ecobed in some, woodshavings in the others).

I've been trying the Ecopetbed out from Earthly Enterprises the last few weeks - it comes by post in a 20Kg bag. I've written a review of it and it should be on the poultrykeeper.com site either later tonight or on the weekend - I've just got to edit and upload the photos before publishing.

I was really impressed with it. It's dust free, free of ink / print, as absorbant as the woodshavings and easy to compost - the woodshavings also tend to get carried out on the birds feet and the ecobed doesn't come out of the house as much and is easier to pick up.

There's some more information here: What is the Best Bedding Material For Chickens and Ducks?

This also discusses shredded paper....

Let us know how you get on and good luck!

Tim
 
Hi Tori,
Orpingtons are lovely,as are most hens,I'm sure you'll enjoy them.I am currently using dust extracted shavings,but,am going to change to the ecopetbed that Tim mentions.When I went to Earthly enterprises web site,they do sell ecopetbed in smaller packs for rats.There was something like 5 of these smaller packs to a box,as I only have 4 ex-battery chickens I don't need large quantities of bedding for their house.
But,when I ring to actually order I will find out the delivery cost and see which will be cheaper for me.
Local stores to me that sell eco type bedding, charge a lot more money for them than shavings,so I think getting it direct from Earthly enterprises will be more economic for me.
Years ago I had a lot of rabbits,and used to buy a bale of hay and also straw from a local stables.This was cheaper than buying large quantities from a pet shop.Unfortunately,I then introduced mites,and the vet bills to treat all the rabbits was very expensive.Worse still,it was a type of mite that can infest dogs,I had 13 dogs at this time,some of which reacted very badly to frontline(vet's favourite mite treatment) so had a very expensive time for a while.Kept expecting the vet to buy a merc,bmw or something :D .
Anyway,while the bunns were being treated for mites,I kept them on shredded paper,I realise that bunns pee and rabbits don't but I wouldn't recomend shredded paper for any livestock.It was c**p.
I know feed my rabbits only on hay bought from a reputable pet shop(it's pre-treated to prevent mites)and never use straw.My ex batts only have shavings.you may find that although straw looks snuggly and nicer, their droppings may fall/pass through it,making it very smelly/rancid underneath clean looking bedding.
Also,straw will come out on their feet,like shavings and possibly be blown everywhere.I suggest you try the straw,see how it goes,and,if it is impractical for you and your chooks,try some different bedding.
Have you got a camera to post some pics of your chooks when you get them? We'd love to see them :D .
 
Ian from Earthly Enterprises is actually registered on the forum - so I've dropped him a line to ask him to let us now the postage costs and options... :D

Tim
 
Just to help clarify the sizes and cost of the Ecopetbed product.

A large bale is approx. 20kg or 200 Litres (Almost fills a large domestic wheelie bin)
The bale is compacted for easier storage. The current cost (inc carriage) is £19.99.

The trial packs are approx 900g or 9 Litres (Fills a 2 gallon bucket)
These are packed three to a box and cost £4.29 (£1.43 each) You can order up to 5 boxes (15 packs) for a single carriage cost of £6.67.

There are other Poultry products on the site so you can mix and match and provided the total weight is under 20kg then the carriage cost should remain the same.

If you have a lot of hens then buying mutiple bales reduces the cost.

I hope that helps. Ian.

PS: Part of the cost of supply is the cost of packaging. If you find that you want (for instance 30 litres in one bag), to clean out your coop just let us know. We can't get carriage costs down but we can shave off some of the packing costs and pass these on. As a small company we are very flexible.
 
Thank you for all your advise... will you be using Ecobed for nest boxes too? I was thinking newspaper then sawdust with straw on top and a sprinkle of mite powder... I want my chooks to be healhy and cosy as boxes dont have top (untill they complain and hubby has to make structural adjustments :lol: ). The mite situation does worry me as i have a dog too.

Cheers

Tori
 
Don't worry Tori, Red Mite won't live on your dog - they only live on birds. They can crawl on you and make you itch from their movement but hopefully it won't come to that...

The chooks love straw in the nest box, a good handful will keep them happy - they will turn around and rearrange it until they are comfortable and then hopefully lay lots of eggs for you ;)
 
Thats great thanks Tim

Dont suppose you know the dimentions of an Orpington... I'm adopting the 2 i'm getting.. the breeder is a friend of a friend and wants a nice retirement home for them. I know they are big just want to make sure my coop door is big enough for my girls.

cheers
 
It depends on the colour and the strain but generally you should allow 15 Inchs or so for doorways and nestboxes. The Buffs are usually the biggest.

I have 3 x 1 year old White Orps here, still looking for a home but they are so friendly I keep putting off advertising them!
 
looks like hubby's going to be busy... again lol

the 2 i'm getting are 4yr old Buffs. Not sure how long they live but if they just want to be spoilt and loved they are coming to the right place.

Are you a breeder?

Tori
 
No, I don't sell much at all. I keep them as a hobby and for eggs and hatch every year to try to improve the lines I keep - mainly Copper Black Marans (dark brown eggs) and Cream Legbar (Blue Eggs) the surplus get sold off when the wife starts to shout about too many chickens :lol:

I had 200 birds a couple of years ago but have scaled things down now as I have a young family and other responsibilites to take care of and (I guess, I haven't counted) I now keep a little under 50. Mainly Chickens but some Ducks and Guinea Fowl too. I'm hopefully getting a pair of Brecon Buff Geese next year but I'm on a waiting list for them as I'm being fussy. If geese can live 20 years, these are going to be friends for life!

5 years is about the age chickens will live for- Buffs are gorgeous and I miss mine..
 
Thanks Earthly,that's a big help.I will be ordering some cardboard from you when I've used my shavings bale up.
Apologies Tori if I prob confused you a bit over mites.Unfortunately there are a lot of different mites,as Tim said red mites(which love birds),scaly leg mite and northern mite which unchecked would be a problem for birds shouldn't infest a dog or cat.The mite that my bunns got from the hay are called travelling mite or travelling scurf mite(not proper name)can't remember the correct or scientific name.These will infest furry/hairy mammals.They don't infest horses or affect them.
I think the mites that snake can carry can infest birds,and is probably similar to the scaley leg one.
I am probably unfairly biased against straw,I wont tell my chooks what you'res are going to be snuggling up in at night,they might all leave home to live with you :o .
 
Our Buff's are getting on for 9 years old. They don't look very tidy. More like they were dragged through a hedge backwards, but they seem fit enough and they are too sprightly for me to catch.
 
Earthly said:
Our Buff's are getting on for 9 years old.
Click to expand...

:o Wow, you're doing something right then!

I have seen 10 year old chooks before but generally 5-7 years is an average life span.

Can I ask whether you get any eggs from them?
 
Earthly said:
Our Buff's are getting on for 9 years old. They don't look very tidy. More like they were dragged through a hedge backwards, but they seem fit enough and they are too sprightly for me to catch.
Click to expand...
I guess your Buff's are waiting for something as well Earthly,like Bayleaf :lol: .Seriously,9yrs is a good age for any chicken,you must be doing everything very well.So....what's your secret???????
 
Whoops, :oops: just double checked the records, they are only 7 1/2. (I'm good a maths, but bad at calendar calculations) Still not bad. They were the first hens we ever bought and now we have almost 100. As to eggs, doubt it but difficult to tell who lays what. We do get some very knobbly eggs some times, but we don't cull our hens so have numerous oldies wandering around.

We tried to tag new hens with the spiral tags so we knew who was who, but they kept coming off so we just gave up.

Some of our hens are ex-commercial free range flocks. They didn't arrive in quite the same state as ex-batts but the concept of free range when you have thousands of birds in one house is very dubious.
 
Hello!

So hopefully my chooks will keep going for many a year...

At what age do you stop breeding a chook? just found out my friends dad has a beautiful buff orp cockerel.

Tori
 
Earthly said:
Some of our hens are ex-commercial free range flocks. They didn't arrive in quite the same state as ex-batts but the concept of free range when you have thousands of birds in one house is very dubious.
Click to expand...

I think this method must be one that Snifter told me about.Apparently,the birds are in a barn,with access points/doors to the outside.As the food and water are inside the barn they don't tend to venture out.So basically no difference to Barn kept hens,which in my book is no better and possibly worse than battery.When I was a teenager a friend lived on a farm and his father raised barn hens.I was totally shocked and dismayed when I saw inside a 'barn',the hens were a large white variety,so crammed together they couldn't really move.Water and feed were available but i couldn't see how the birds away from the containers could ever get to them.Some of them were very badly pecked and bullied with no way of getting away from it.Apparently,they were close to being culled(meat breed)so were bigger,but it has always stuck in my mind.I always felt sorry that they had ever been hatched and would have been better off if they never had.
 
Buff Orpington's at 7 1/2 years old.
 

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