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Heard a county vet say pine shavings beat straw for mites
Was waiting at the feed store in Eugene last Tuesday and this older vet was telling a guy that straw holds moisture and gives mites a place to hide, while pine shavings dry out faster and break the cycle. I had been using straw for two years and dealt with scaly leg mites twice, so I switched my whole coop bedding over to shavings from Tractor Supply, about $14 for a big bale. After 3 months, no mite signs and the girls seem less itchy when I check their feet. Anyone else notice a difference after swapping bedding types?
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emmap161d ago
Shavings do dry faster but the dust is what got me. Switched to pine a couple winters back and my hens started sneezing within a week, so now I do a thin shaving base with a flake of straw on top for the nest boxes only. The roosts and floor get straight shavings though, and yeah the mites cleared up way faster than when it was all straw. One thing nobody mentions is that straw from the feed store can already carry mite eggs when you bring it home, so you might be reinfecting yourself every time you rebed. Shavings in a sealed bale seem less likely to bring hitchhikers in with them.
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