In an immersive and busy life, it’s hard to manage the time to enjoy some fresh air, right? People say having some pets can be a great stress reliever. But how true is that?
Probably you have got chickens, and you love them a lot, and that’s what drove you here. If love is the river, then caring is the water in it. And with that in mind, you may look for the best bedding for chicken coop to ensure a haven for them.
The best chicken coop bedding delivers fresh air that prevents dust and moisture, helping your chicks stay healthy – impressed already? Let’s look at some of the top options available to get a suitable one for your chicks.
Quick View: 5 Best Bedding for Chicken Coop
- Hamiledyi Chicken Nesting Box Pads
- Precision Pet by Petmate Excelsior Nesting
- RentACoop Hemp Bedding
- Standlee Hay Company Flock Fresh Premium Poultry Bedding
- Happy Trees Premium Hemp for Chicken Coop
Why Does Bedding Material Matter?
The bedding you provide to your flock in their chicken coops provides –
- A safe and secure foundation for your chickens’ feet
- Soft and comfortable landing for their eggs
- A way to gather droppings
The role of chicken coop bedding is slightly different for backyard chickens than other farm animals. For other farm animals, bedding serves as a place to rest and litter. On the other hand, backyard chicken coop bedding serves as deep litter or nesting pads.
As the owners don’t make backyard chickens live solely in their coop, the bedding material is mainly required to hold chicken droppings or used in the nest box.
5 Best Bedding for Chicken Coop Reviews
Choosing suitable bedding for your coop can be confusing as many options are available. No worries, we have got your back! Here’re some of the best chicken coop bedding options available to make things easier.
1. Hamiledyi Chicken Nesting Box Pads
Can you imagine finding the time to mow and water the grasses in the backyard on your daily schedule? Probably not. Well, no worries, Himiledyi has brought this ultra-modern chicken bedding with synthetic grasses to take some stress off your shoulders.
What’s so special about these synthetic grasses? Good question! Imagine not having to mow, water, or fertilize the grasses anymore and provide your chicken with comfy and safe bedding.
It’s all a reality now with this chicken bedding. As it’s made of plastic and synthetic grasses, you won’t have to go through all those hectic maintenances anymore. And that’s a heck of a stress reliever, right?
To keep your chickens healthy, you must avoid bad odor or clogged water. It comes with a self-draining system, so no more worries with clogged water or bad odor. The drainage holes placed on the back will eliminate any water from the chicken bedding almost immediately.
You might confuse the artificial grass bedding with the real one as it almost looks natural. Chickens love soft and comfortable bedding, and Himiledyi didn’t forget it. Your chickens will enjoy royal pleasure with these bedding materials.
Cleaning and carrying the bedding materials has never been this easy. You can fold, detach, and reattach most parts easily, so cleaning and carrying the bed will be an easy-peasy job.
However, the grass depth on this chicken bedding is not enough for adult chickens. But you can keep all your little chickens without any trouble.
Pros
Cons
Short Verdict
If an easy maintenance facility and a modern design are something you are looking for, this one can be an ideal bedding option for your chicken. The self-draining system and excellent portability made it a highly competitive player among other bedding options.
2. Precision Pet by Petmate Excelsior Nesting
Most chicken owners fail to ensure a clean and hygienic environment inside the chicken coop. As a result, their heir chicken often gets sick.
However, you can throw away that stress into the trash can when you have got this nesting pad chicken bedding from Petmate Excelsior. Thin wood shaving ensures enough moisture to keep the pad paper backing clean and dry for your chicken and their eggs.
It’s really important to keep your chicken laying eggs in a single place. Otherwise, they can get broken easily. The soft and robust nesting box pads of this chicken bedding trick your chicken to lay eggs in a specific place, so no more worries with eggs getting cracked.
You can easily modify the wood shavings of this chicken bedding without changing its shape. So, your adult or young chicks can live happily ever after without asking you to get another bedding.
One of the must-have qualities of chicken bedding is its soft surface. It ensures your chicken’s comfort and keeps them motivated to lay eggs there. With this bedding, you will get cushioned surface and avoid your chicken getting mad at you.
Highly toxic built materials can be hazardous for your chicken’s health. It’s made of fully biodegradable materials so, your chicken will remain 100 safe inside.
Chickens tend to scratch the wood shavings off. And that might lead to a quick decay of the bedding. However, if you could put any toy or other materials they can scratch, it may not happen anymore.
Pros
Cons
Short Verdict
If you are looking for comfortable and safe bedding for your chicken coop, this one can be a great choice. The wood shavings material is quite helpful for chicken keeping and keeps the chicken bedding healthy and fresh.
3. RentACoop Hemp Bedding
If you have loads of chicken and are worried about giving them comfy and safe bedding inside the coop, then RentACoop Hemp bedding is your ultimate solution. It comes with 33 pounds of hemp, and with that, you can fill up an 8’x6′ coop without any trouble.
Moisture is the villain for every chicken coop out there. But when you have RentACoop hemp bedding, you can sleep in peace, and so can your chickens. This hemp can absorb a crazy amount of moisture. Therefore, the coop will always remain moisture-free. Where there’s no moisture, there’s no trouble.
It smells a lot better than pine shavings. The smell comes into play when you have to keep your chicken inside for a long time. As you wouldn’t love staying inside your home with a bad odor, neither will your chicken. The pleasant smell will keep them engaged inside.
They have grown the hemp without insecticides or pesticides, so they are 100% safe for your chicken. With this hemp bedding solution, you no longer have to worry about your chickens’ safety inside the coop. Your chickens may not find it as enjoyable as other eye-catching artificial beddings; as a result, they might feel bored and declare a protest for a pleasant home. No, of course not, just kidding. However, it’s just a probability.
Pros
Cons
Short Verdict
When you are dealing with a large number of chickens, RentACoop hemp bedding is your light at the end of the tunnel. The amount of hemp you will get can cover up almost any chicken coop. So, your coop size or the number of chickens don’t matter anymore.
4. Standlee Hay Company Flock Fresh Premium Poultry Bedding
When it comes to ensuring the good health of your chicken, the environment inside the coop is what matters the most. Think about yourself, would you be in good health when your home’s environment is unhealthy?
It’s the same with chickens. Standlee Hay has brought a natural solution to ensure a healthy solution for your chicken bedding.
They have used chopped straw as the main ingredient of the bedding. Instead of using any artificial material, using the natural one is safer and cheaper.
Non-biodegradable material can have a bad impact on your chickens’ health. But with chopped straw bedding, you don’t have that probability. So, why not?
Standlee Hay has done a brilliant job by adding sun-cured alfalfa with the bedding materials. It motivates your chickens foraging behavior.
Let us simplify it for you; with alfalfa inside the coop, you will notice the chickens are moving their bedding around using claws. So, you will have enough time to do the bedding change.
You would be delighted to know this chicken bedding comes with Zeolite added. How can that benefit you? Well, Zeolite will absorb the moisture and decrease the odor inside the coop. Therefore, your chicken will remain healthy and happy inside.
Don’t be surprised if it gets dusty when you open the package. Now that you know, you might want to wear mask and hand gloves while setting up the bedding; otherwise, you will get a dust bath.
Pros
Cons
Short Verdict
Going for a natural solution is always the wisest choice. Not only for the sake of the environment, but it will also keep your loving chicken healthy and hearty. Standlee Hay Poultry Bedding is the way to go if you prefer natural chicken bedding options.
5. Happy Trees Premium Hemp for Chicken Coop
Who doesn’t want dust-free bedding for chicken coops? Your chicks can be dust-sensitive that may cause some allergy issues as well. What’s the solution, then?
Well, no worries, as this Happy Trees Premium bedding is completely dust-free as it’s made of natural materials. So, your chicks will stay safe and healthy as they get fresh air to breathe.
Isn’t it great to have bedding that is compostable in the long run? If you think so, this one is suitable as it can compost your chicks for a long period without any issues with its wood bedding materials.
This bedding is pretty absorbent, so there’s no chance of bad odors or smells. You can use a little pooper scooper to scoop the poops out regularly. As a result, the possibility of any bad smells will vanish, and the bedding remains clean and healthy for the chicks.
The only thing you need to consider is it can smell a bit moldy after 2-3 weeks if you don’t clean the bedding frequently. And you know, mold spores can lead to some severe health issues. But, it’s not a big issue as regular cleaning is pretty normal for chicken coops bedding.
Pros
Cons
Short Verdict
If you want dust-free bedding and have some chicks that are dust sensitive, this Happy Trees Premium bedding is the perfect match for you.
Things to Consider Before Buying
Since your chickens would spend most of their time on chicken bedding, there are a few things you need to consider before buying chicken nest bedding. Below are some points to consider if you want to get the best chicken coop bedding –
Moisture Absorption
The bedding options you pick must be amazingly absorbent. A chicken coop floor bedding would hold chicken poop, and chicken waste consists of both urine and feces, making chicken litter extremely high in moisture.
If the bedding material can’t absorb moisture from the chicken manure, it may result in severe health problems for your chickens.
Wet litter will house various harmful bacteria and cause lesions on your chickens’ feet. The ammonia smell from wet bedding can cause respiratory infections, growth issues, or even blindness.
Moisture Release
Not only does chicken coop bedding need to absorb water highly, but it needs to release water quickly too. So, make sure the bedding can promptly release water through evaporation.
If it doesn’t release water quickly, you will end up with the same issues you would have if your bedding didn’t absorb water.
The chickens’ nest bedding must stay dry! It must be able to both absorb and release water quickly to keep your chicken coop clean and bacteria-free.
Control Odor
The best chicken coop bedding material needs to stay dry and fresh. Dry bedding will help control odor in your chicken coop. If you are already a chicken keeper, you know how bad a chicken coop can release ammonia or an earthy smell.
Not only is the odor too strong to tolerate, but it can also be harmful to your flock. While choosing the bedding for your chicken nesting box, make sure to get one that dries chicken waste quickly, which helps prevent odors.
Non-Toxic
Unfortunately, not all bedding options for your chicken are non-toxic. Pine shavings are the most commonly used bedding in large poultry farms or broiler industries. However, pine shavings are incredibly toxic in the long run and cause respiratory illness.
As a backyard chicken owner, you want your flock to live a long, happy, healthy life. Hence, you must avoid toxic bedding materials and get non-toxic materials for your chicken coop bedding.
So, we suggest you avoid all wood shavings, such as pine shaving, cedar shavings, hardwoods, wood chips, or peat moss, as they are toxic to chickens.
Easy Cleaning
Chicken beddings need to be easy to clean. The litter in chicken nesting boxes needs regular tending. So, the chick’s waste must be scooped out, and you need to add a new bedding layer there.
Clean coop means healthy coop! Backyard chickens deserve a healthy home that is adequately cleaned now and then.
Another reason to keep bedding clean is to encourage chickens to lay eggs on the bedding. If the bedding in their nesting pads is filthy and smells, chickens will start laying eggs elsewhere.
Deep Litter Method
The deep litter method continuously turns over the soiled chicken coop bedding and adds a new layer of bedding material on top. Well, the purpose of it is to allow the chicken manure to decompose on the coop floor.
You can use this method in cold weather, as the chicken waste at the bottom of the coop will keep the coop heated. Heated coops can provide the ultimate comfort to your chicks. In addition, we suggest the deep litter method as the composted bedding and litter allow microbes to grow.
What does it do? Well, it helps control pathogens and prevents your chickens from being infected with diseases.
How to Do the Deep Litter Method?
Start with a 6″ layer of bedding to cover the floor. You can use a thick layer of pine shavings, cedar shavings, or other wood shavings.
Add straw on top of the deep bedding. You need to turn it over each morning so the soiled straw from the night before can drop to the bottom. Also, you can use grass clippings, pine needles, dried leaves, or a mixture of bedding types.
Make sure to turn over the bedding frequently and add straw as needed to build up to a 12″ thick layer of bedding eventually. No need to remove any bedding! Keep turning over the straw to let the litter drop to the bottom.
Use a shovel or rake to turn over the material. The regular turning will allow more oxygen into the coop bedding, reducing ammonia build-up.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Do chickens lay their eggs on plastic mats?
Yes. Chickens lay eggs on plastic mats as long as they are comfortable inside their nest boxes. If you don’t provide soft bedding, the chicken will lay eggs anywhere in a coop, even on floors.
2. How can the deep litter method help?
The deep litter method composts inside a chicken coop by allowing the litter and chicken waste to build up over time. The deep litter method requires a proper approach.
In this method, you set up a thick layer of bedding. Instead of cleaning out the chicken litter, you allow the manure to drop to the bottom and decompose. This helps in producing heat in cold weather.
3. Do chickens really need chicken coop bedding?
Chickens do not generally sleep on the ground. They sleep on roosts; therefore, they do not need bedding to sleep.
However, chicken coop bedding is needed on nest boxes to lay eggs, and chicken litter is needed on the coop floor to manage waste. Some people also use bedding in the chicken run.
4. How often do you clean out chicken coop bedding?
Chicken coop bedding needs to be cleaned out once every week or once a month. You don’t need to clean the coop daily. The deeper the chicken coop bedding is, the less cleaning out it needs.
If you use the deep litter method, you will not clean the bedding. We suggest you clean the entire coop thoroughly at least once or twice a year.
5. Can you use grass clippings for chicken coop bedding?
Yes, you can use dry grass clipping for the chicken coop bedding option. Dry grass takes longer to absorb water, but it is widely popular as a coop bedding material. Dry grass is commonly used as coop bedding when using the deep litter method as it is also compostable.
Final Words
So, what are you thinking about? Yeah, it’s okay to feel a bit hesitant with your choice. Especially if you have never bought any chicken bedding before, but it’s pretty simple. You just need to make sure the bedding type is suitable and safe for your chicken.
To get the best bedding for a chicken coop, you need to look at your requirements first, then choose the one that suits all those requirements pretty well.