nest box material

[clucking chicks]

Hi All,
Please could someone advise me what is best to put in the bottom of my nesting box? I have read about pro's and con's of straw and hay so I thought it would be wiser to ask you guys for help rather than guess!! 07

 

[E3lx]

I use straw.
You could use shavings but htey are messy to clean out.
Hemp is a deoderiser, but hard to find and very expensive.
Straw is fairly easy to clean out, and i have always used it.
Hay can be dusty, and probs has other cons, but i dunno, never use it.

 

[ncotb]

I use dust extracted shavings. Just see what suits you & your set up best, there are several different bedding materials to choose from, if you put bedding into the search facility in the top right hand corner you should find posts of what people use. 17

 

[chrismahon]

We use good quality hay -not the cheaper dusty coarse stuff -at £5.00 a bale. Good to put some wood shavings at the bottom or kitchen roll, as the occasional broken egg is a bit messy and with hay only it runs into the wood joints. They build little nests with carefully wrapped hay around them. Probably the most natural material for them.

 

[Marigold]

Woodshavings are fine - the odd dropping can easily be picked up, and you can sprinkle it with diatomaceous earth so the girls get their feathers refreshed against the redmite when they go in there. If you only have a few birds, and don't want to have to store a bale of hay, you can get shavings cheaply from a petshop. I've always read that hay isn't good to use because chickens are very susceptible to chest problems if inhaling dust or spores.

 

[lwescott]

I use Aubiose - a hemp bedding which comes in a big bale for around £10 which lasts months, esp if you were just using it in the coop (I use it in the run too). Its absorbant if any eggs crack and the chickens seem to like it
I have used wood shavings and Bedmax in the past too but prefer Aubiose.

Straw has a hollow centre which mites can live in, and as Marigold says, hay can have spores in which aren't good for chickens.

 

[Chuck]

Shavings are fine. Hay comes second with me and is preferred to straw as they scratch about in it looking for grains and eggs get broken.