Poultry Talk Ontario (pto.ca)

Jaye the straw is very similar to flax. but less dense- a bag of the flax causes hernias, and rips easily because it's paper. The straw you can toss the bag easily and the super heavy plastic is almost overkill, but if you open the straw bag carefully you get a super heavy duty plastic bag that can be reused for other stuff. You would have no problems storing this healthi straw outdoors with no other shelter. So while the paper flax cover is good from a recycle standpoint it's not very robust packaging, it tears easily, as pointed out earlier it can get wet and mould.
The healthi straw works like the flax, it coats the 'poops and works well on the 'poop tarp. The 'poops in the bedding on the floor are easy to pick out. The flax was a bit more durable than the straw. I'd say the straw was more economical though and if I could, I'd buy more and use it. Unfortunately I got no more response to my emails so I've been unable to locate more straw and had to buy flax. :-/
Hands down though strictly from a dust standpoint the flax is worth the extra money compared to the quick pick fine wood shavings.
I see I still haven't posted the pictures yet, got busy doing other stuff - will get to that!

Robbie how does the straw compare for dust? Less than wood shaving, more than flax? I might try some of it come spring in my new coop.

The only product that I would say has absolutely zero dust, is the wood pellets- but the straw has almost none, on par with the flax. Flax costs me $8.99 a bag, the straw $6.50 (don't know if that was a promotional price or not ). I'd be using the straw if I could get more. There's a huge difference between the wood shavings and straw or flax, for dust.

One thing I forgot to mention, the flax is very slippery, the straw is far less slippery. The McFeeter's quick pick Wood shavings is the least slippery. I kept one bag of straw to use for newly hatched chicks. I think it will give them better footing.

I just use hay and the birds chop it up good. Hay is cheap (a few bucks for the small 50lb squares, and what $50-75 for the large 6×6 round 600+lb bales) and goes a long way. of course I dont clean out crap every day though and use the deep litter method in all my coops where it can be done. I prefer hay over straw because its full of all kinds of goodies, never been sprayed with pesticides, its nice and soft and I love the smell of it!

Healthi straw arrives! Got home and 2 bales were in the driveway.

Comparison of packaging- McFeeter's quick pik, straw and flax


Size of chopped healthi straw compared to 2 " nails- straw is still in the bag.

Close up of healthi straw vs. flax. The straw is still in the plastic bag, so it looks funny-it's on the left -it is a nice gold colour, brighter than the flax. It's nice that it's chopped so fine that mites can't hide in it.

Ok thanks Robbie

I might give it a try, looking for something with a bit less dust.

It's definitely not dusty.

Thanks, Robbie. It sounds like it has most of the benefits I'm looking for. I would like to try some once my supply of flax is gone.
p.s. Are you saying that you are having trouble getting more?

I have a question... with either wheat or flax straw would you not be concerned with what has been sprayed on it during the agricultural process?

Read their information sheet. Sounds like a marketing deal mostly to me. No lies told, but nothing really different about this from regular clean wheat straw. I am guessing that different length straw means you can get crimped by the combine or not. Clean prairie wheat fields will be the same as clean Ontario wheat fields. Probably weed killers used, no claims made about organic, not that is a yay or nay from me, just comment. Nothing on there tells me this more or less health, its just straw, probably good straw, but just straw. (The name Healthistraw says marketing to me.)

Their mother website is out of Manitoba. Transported here from the prairies, the cost is going to be way higher, and as of now, not sure there will be a benefit to clean unmoldy undusty Ontario straw. But if you don't have a local source in the smaller quantities most of us hobbyists would use, it is probably a good product. Don't know how widely it is available. I will still get a few small square bales from my neighbor, ten or so in August tend to last me a year for chicken and goat and horse bedding. I pay him $1.50 a bail off the field and store it dry til I need it.

That's my take anyway.