Pine Shaving Bedding - What type is right for you?

As a new(er) chicken tender, I have spent quite a bit of time experimenting with different types of beddings in search of something that works for my setup. One of the very first that I have tried, and still utilize, have been pine shavings. You generally can get a bag of them at most big-box agricultural stores rather conveniently and at a tolerable price point. I have tried three different styles (Flake, Fine, Extra Fine) and wonder if folks have had similar findings.

For some background notes, I have ten chickens in an off the ground coop utilizing a deep litter method for their coop. They also have an enclosed run that they are limited to in bad weather that protects them from predation also when nobody is home.

Flake

Flake Pine Bedding

The first ever bedding I have utilized was flake pine shavings. Reported to be roughly 8 cubic feet, when properly 'fluffed' they do create a large amount of volume and are easily spread. I have tried two different brands and found low to no dust but still recommend being cautious especially in enclosed areas. The flake is rather absorbent but if mixed and aerated it dries nicely. Manure blends into it without issue and the breakdown of flake is slow. I have found that utilizing flake in the nesting boxes has been mostly a positive experience outside of my hens liking to make nests outside of their intentionally made nesting boxes.

My favorite use for flake is to help dry out the chicken run in the spring thaws or after heavy rain. The chickens spread it readily and it truly turns into some nice compost with time.

Fine

Fine Pine Bedding

I am kind of on the fence with fines as I see their potential but have recently been outshined by other bedding types. The bales are reported to fluff out to 5 cubic feet. I have found my bales of fines to be made up of irregular sizes but not necessarily in a bad way. You get some oddball shapes and sizes which creates more surface area of bedding inside the coop but I found when moisture entered the game it was harder to dry out. I tend to 'rake' my bedding and mix it but would get clots of wet pine/manure that I haven't had to deal with before. I do not intentionally purchase fine material but I'd use it if I couldn't get the other two types of pine shavings.

Extra Fine

Extra Fine Pine Bedding

You'd think if I had issues with fine material and moisture, that extra fine would be worse right? I'm actually really pleased with the extra fine! It mixes well, the surface area contact with manure helps dry it out quickly and then can be used to cover spots and wick out excess moisture. The bales are reported to fluff up to 3 cubic feet. For being extra fine, I didn't notice a lot of dust coming off the product when spreading. I did notice that it smelled aromatically of pine more than the other two shavings types. I use extra fine as a top-off bedding as I build up my deep bedding over winter. With a base layer of flake, the mixture of carbon material does really well in my experience.

Sawdust

Pine Sawdust

Sawdust is the finest version of pine bedding that can be obtained. Sawdust is a byproduct of woodworking and is the lightest fluffiest version of pine. While sawdust is highly absorbent, it is very dusty. This material can stick to certain animals due to how light it is and can be rather aromatic. I have heard of reports that animals with sensitive respiratory systems have the potential to have issues with sawdust.


What are your experiences with pine shavings?

My neighbours keep chickens (which I help feed, and get surplus eggs) so this is of great interest.

School me in my ignorance -- given a deep litter system, is the purpose of the pine shavings to maintain a dry and stable top layer?

Douglas Alpenstock wrote: School me in my ignorance -- given a deep litter system, is the purpose of the pine shavings to maintain a dry and stable top layer?

Deep litter systems that I have read about tend to utilize a system where you mix up the existing bedding and then put a fresh layer on top. I find the mixing of oxygen and flipping of material in itself helps desiccate the bedding. Adding fresh dry material on top might help that process but I believe the new material acts as a barrier between chicken feet and un-composted manure. Nothing good comes from chickens stuck in their own filth in my opinion. The new bedding does get scratched into the old, but the new material does cut down on moisture accumulation. I suppose then yes, a purpose would be to help maintain a dry and stable environment.

I tend to mix daily, and I might not top off daily but rather rely on eyeing the condition of the bedding as a whole. I have quite a bit of poop-able coop space per chicken  so that ammonia is not an issue and the balance doesn't get overwhelmed easily. This however means I don't harvest as much compost as often as others might. I only top off when material starts to shrink as I am limited by my coop design. Too much material tends to get kicked out of the entrance.

I used almost exclusively the flake version of pine shavings. I mixed it with straw during the winter when the chickens were in my greenhouse.

Overall I liked the mix... thought my greenhouse was on a slant, and they would kick all the shavings and straw to the bottom end, leaving the top bare... but boy did it grow some good tomatoes that summer. I would dare say 50% of the bedding was broken down by spring. And the rest was spread under a layer of woodchips and was almost nonexistent by the time I went to plant.

I use hemlock/pine/oak/birch/maple sawdust off our bandsaw lumber mill, our coops are 16x8, deep litter 3+ yds at initial fill, with a 32 gal barrel of wood ash added on top. The birds will take care of the stirring, mixing as they scratch & dust in the ash, keeps them mite free as a bonus

After my bedding is 'spent' and I pull it out of my chicken coop, I generally utilize it for compost. Utilizing a lazy composting system, it takes about a year to break down the shavings in my experience. I have been experimenting with inoculating the bedding with fungus such as Winecaps to help break down the lignin faster with mixed results. Bedding that has been sitting for a while does show evidence of mycelium intrusion but I am unsure of what type of mushroom is actually growing in it.

Pine shavings have been a good mixture of effective and convenient for my uses. While I wish I could produce bedding for my animals on site, I can usually source some form of pine material locally for an acceptable price.

For poultry keepers, here is a video on potential downsides of utilizing shavings exclusively.

I use fine pretty much exclusively.  I use deep litter in my coop, but since discovering the Wood's Open Air Coop design, moisture is exactly zero problem.  The chicken waste dries nearly immediately due to the coop design.  I prefer fine to the others because it composts well.  Mini, extra fine, or sawdust clump too much for me in my compost bins so I don't really like it.  Looser, flakier material is easier to turn and breaks down well in a compost bin.  In the event I move the old litter from the coop into the run area for the chicken to compost, I still prefer the larger flakes because they are easier for the chickens to work over.  In that case, flakes work well too.

Pine Shavings Fun Facts

1Lb.. of pine shavings can absorb around 2Lbs. of water

Pine shavings take roughly two to three years to naturally decompose out in the environment.

Pine shavings show signs of inhibiting nitrogen-driven bacteria growth. They reduce the amount of nitrogen volatizing into ammonia.

Kiln drying pine shavings helps reduce phenol/aromatic oil levels. Phenols and aromatic oils can cause respiratory irritation in high concentrations.

I use the flakes, exclusively, for deep litter, and let the chickens do the mixing (seriously, can it get any lazier??) I make the new layers of flakes thicker in winter, thinner in summer, adjusting as needed. Between the ventilation and them constantly scratching through it, the only time I've ever struggled with any ammonia was when, for a few months one late winter/early spring, I'd gotten up to 28 birds, and in an effort to keep torrential rains out of the roosting/ nesting area, I closed the windows, completely. I now keep a rock (a little smaller than a golf ball) in each of the window sills, so I won't accidentally do that, again.

Thanks for reviving this one, Timothy — those fun facts line up with what I have seen in a small backyard coop.

If I were starting out again, I would begin with kiln-dried flakes and nothing fancier. They stay looser than the fine grades, so they do not mat down as fast when a waterer splashes, and they give the birds something to scratch through, which is half of the deep litter system working on its own. Carla's approach of letting the chickens do the mixing is exactly how I run mine.

A few specifics that helped me:
- Start about 4 to 6 inches deep, then top up with a fresh scoop whenever the surface looks damp or starts to smell, rather than stripping the whole coop out. Do a full clean-out only when it stays soggy or smells of ammonia even after stirring.
- Keep the waterer on a stand or a board so spills land outside the bedding. Damp bedding is what turns a coop sour, whatever grade you use.
- Skip fine sawdust in a brooder. It is dustier, and chicks peck at everything, so flakes are the safer choice until they are older. Fine grades can work for adult birds in a dry coop, but they need closer watching for dust and matting.
- Make sure the bag says kiln-dried pine, and never substitute cedar shavings. The aromatic oils are the problem Timothy flagged, and chicks and young birds are the most sensitive.
- Spent litter is great compost feedstock, but I age it before it goes near the garden, since it takes a long time to fully break down.

So my short version for a beginner: kiln-dried flakes, deep to start, keep it dry, and let the chickens stir it. That has been the lowest-effort setup that still smells like earth instead of ammonia.