Poultry Talk Ontario (pto.ca)

I'll have a look, I don't think there are any recommendations on the bag, except that it's for animal bedding not woodstoves.

ross wrote:Being a mfg product (pellets)not a by product do they suggest it's been designed for chickens or any other animal on the bag ? I've always used shavings and or straw when needed or dirt . Luck

It says horse bedding on the bag.

Tx Jaye..

I've used them in pellet form and hydrated for chicks in the house, and was quite pleased with how they worked, but then, I'm not an everyday scooper... and compostability is important for me, so I like how fine the particles are. Maybe the temperature is a problem at this time of year?

Cuttlefish wrote:I've used them in pellet form and hydrated for chicks in the house, and was quite pleased with how they worked, but then, I'm not an everyday scooper... and compostability is important for me, so I like how fine the particles are. Maybe the temperature is a problem at this time of year?

I think they might be better used with a deep litter type program perhaps mixed in with regular shavings. But they pellets are almost impossible to seperate from the .

I'm curious, what kind of floor do you have in your coop area, Robbie?

From what you've written about this, I'm hearing that you may need to use two types of bedding, one as a base and one as a top layer that you can scoop out manure from. I know that the less dusty the bedding is, the better for your chicken's respiratory health - and yours too, of course, but you can wear a filter mask when you're mucking out, whereas you chickens don't have that option - but maybe some sort of compromise would work.

I came across this cob horse bedding, http://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/produc ... _vc=-10005, a few years back, when I was first looking into what type of bedding I wanted to use in my coop. I read the posted product reviews, and they seemed to be quite positive overall – made from 100% natural corn cob bedding, good absorption, good odour control, easy clean out, long lasting, and so on - but I opted not to go with it in the end because:
(1) There were mixed reviews about how dusty it was, and several said they spritzed it to keep the dust down. I thought that was counterproductive since keeping moisture down in the coop is really important.
(2) One reviewer said they used it in their coop and the chickens ate the bedding. Not ideal. There were also a couple of reviewers that used it as horse bedding who had the same complaint.
(3) It’s not available in Canada, as far as I know. This wasn't a deal breaker for me initially, because I don't have to travel all that far to cross-border shop, but with the current exchange rate it's not very cost-effective any more.

Anyway, long story short, I went with flax bedding, and never looked back.
I thought I'd mention this cob bedding to you, in case you can't get a hold of flax bedding, and you want to give it a try as a base layer of bedding.

Thanks Jaye I finally did source some flax. My idea is to mix the flax with the quickpick, not sure of the ratio just yet, I need to mess around.
I used the flax with the young chicks. Ifound that although less dusty the flax did not absorb the moisture from the p'oops, it sort of just coated them. So there were a lot more p'oopy feet than with the straight fine shavings. And, I'd have to take spicules of flax out of the chick's eyes, it's sharp.
So I'm hoping that the mix of shavings and flax will be the goldilocks bedding I'm looking for. I do want to try that finely shredded straw to see how it compares to flax, my guess is it's pretty similar.
I did see some notes about the cob bedding, but was unable to find, and now I won't bother now- thanks!

By the way Ross the brand of pellets I have just says animal bedding, but there are pictures of a horse, a cat and a rabbit on the bag.