Bedding!

I have given my recipe for my bedding mix out hundreds of times and then duh, why not put it on here! Blond moment maybe or just busy.

This is what I do for any bird outside, includes my chickens and turkeys, and would work well for quail kept aviary style.

First dig down to your base, clean out any debris. Things such as stones or thorns or screws and nails can be an issue. Bumble foot starts as a bruise, so stop that in its tracks with a good cleaning. My base is hard packed clay, I mean hard like concrete. It has extensive cracking since it’s so hard. I dumped some sand, don’t ovethink this type of sand, and just used a broom to fill in the cracks. Now I have a nice, level base.

Next up is Ag Lime. Do not confuse this with hydrated lime. Ag Lime is crushed limestone and is cheap, like $4 for 50# cheap. The reason I do this is that soil naturally becomes more acidic with time because of rain and plants sucking up the nutrients. Lime brings the ph up to a more neutral state and when it’s in balance, the good microbes and bacteria will thrive. Think of it like the gut health of the earth, we want to start a healthy base because the birds live and dust bathe on the ground. I assume it needs alot so I make it snow, I put a solid white coating, its just limestone, so can’t really over do it and it won’t hurt anyone.

Next is Stall Pellets, also cheap at about $7 for 40#. To decide on how much, you need to assess your weather and rain that enters the coop. For me, I have almost all open wire coops and it rains inside, especially when it blows. Therefore, I put it thick, about 4-5”, for reference, in a 8’x8’ coop, I use 4 bags. Take a broom or a metal rake and kinda smooth it out, but don’t stress it.

Lastly, peat moss. This comes in big heavy cubes from Lowes or Home Depot. It will probably cost $20. This cube is solidly packed and it holds alot and I need one per coop. Cut that open and dump and take the rake and smooth it a bit over the pellets.

YOUR DONE!

Now what will happen? The birds will play in the peat moss and love it! IT has a nice neutral ph and it gets in all their nooks and crannies and is a fun dust bath for them. Until the stuff gets wet, nothing much will change. If it rains in there or they tip over the water, that is when the pellets come in to play. They will absorb it and turn to sawdust, but it takes alot of water to do that and that means a long time. Eventually you will take the metal rake and kinda smooth it out some. After a rain, you will smooth it out and fluff it. Over time, the sawdust and peat moss will meld and make a soft pillowy floor. If they are hard on it, just Kinda top it off here and there, but no need to rake it out and start over unless something major happens like raising Cornish X on it, LOL. For example, the first time I used it was in my main coop in 2020, I rake it every once in a while, I have only cleaned out the feathers in the fall, never the litter. The manure under the roosts, just smooth it out in the peat moss. No kitty litter scoops, no sand, no daily maintenance. Keeping chickens isn’t hard and doesn’t have to be complicated. I do not remember ever cleaning out a coop as a kid, it just wasn’t a thing. I do not go through truckloads of shavings, I may use one bag a month for whatever reason. Here is a pic of it once done, it looks like dirt :)

The finished product, a nice safe place for your birds, give it a try!