Sawdust as Bedding

[OldForum]

suinchick
I have a plentiful supply of sawdust and short supply of newspaper....is sawdust ok for putting on the ground in the sleeping quarters to soak up the muck and protect the ground a bit?? - I have a shelf and roost rail so they dont have to squat on it all night. It is their first night in the lock-up part and they are sleeping on the ground - havent seen or sussed out the rail yet.

Wendy
Although I have paper on the floor,it is easier to just roll up and throw away. I do put sawdust on the top of that just to keep it tidy.

sunchick
Hi Wendy - OK , thanks- so it didn't kill yours - good! It was their first night last night and they wouldnt go near the shelter until I removed the sawdust(which was on a sheet of corrugated cardboard. It seemed to spook them. I dont want to burn the ground too much with their droppings, so I will try adding a bit of sawdust gradually. How often do you clean your s out and how many hens have you got? My main concern with the sawdust was the dust and the problem with their sensitive air-sacs that I keep reading about.

Wendy
I have 4 hens, and my house is small, only waist high. Thus keeping the warmth in, in the winter. It does have ventilation slit running along the underside of the roof.
I have a removable nest boxes. So I take those out emptying the straw onto the floor. I then roll up the several layers of newspaper, that I put down, and slip it straight into a black plastic sack. As the floor of their little house is laminated [excess house flooring] I sweep it round with dust pan and brush. Give it a quick wash round with water and a disinfectant called 'Genie'. A dust with red mite powder, once dry. Then layers of newspaper. I put back the nest boxes loads of straw in them, hay isn't good for their air sac's. Sawdust on the part that is left and they are away. Takes me about 15 to 20 minutes. The sawdust I use is not the very fine stuff. I dig over the run usually weekly, but have the occasional week off, especially if they have been in the garden a lot. Hope that helps
Somewhere on the site Richard has a photograph of my hen house that a friend built for me.
Wendy

sunchick
Thanks Wendy, lucky chickens - how often do you do the house-keeping work in the hen-house? Does everybody dust with mite powder? Could you compost the 'cleanings'?