Where could I get cheap straw?

fuzzgun19

Just set up and got some hens, but a bit stuck where to get cheap straw on a regular basis..

Don't really fancy paying expensive shop prices, so any suggestions?

Farmer-Fred_2

Depending on where you are you might be near a city farm.
I volunteer at the one in Southampton and buy a large sack of straw/hay for my pets for £1. You might even have the added bonus of some free advice about keeping your 'chucks'.
Check out this web site to see if you are near a city farm: http://www.farmgarden.org.uk/

BabyKat

Try your local farms, we get ours from an organic farm and it only costs us £1.50 a small square bale

V_Chic_Chick

Another hen keeper on the boards

Straw is less than brilliant for hens as mites and so on love to live in the holes in the centre of the stalk. Wood shavings are much better than straw, and you can buy a massive, compacted bale for £5/6 from your local sawmill. It is dust-extracted, and I have seen the exact same stuff being delivered to a pet shop, where it is split up and sold for a much higher price.

pandas66

I agree on shavings too

My Dad kept chickens and ducks for many years on shavings as they ere freely available to him.

Althought it does depend on how you want to get get rid of the waste, ours went into the slurry pit and so onto the land.

pinginal

V_Chic_Chick wrote: »

Another hen keeper on the boards

Straw is less than brilliant for hens as mites and so on love to live in the holes in the centre of the stalk. Wood shavings are much better than straw, and you can buy a massive, compacted bale for £5/6 from your local sawmill. It is dust-extracted, and I have seen the exact same stuff being delivered to a pet shop, where it is split up and sold for a much higher price.

I haven't heard about straw being bad for chickens, are you sure about that? I know that you shouldn't use hay because mould spores breed easily in it. I buy huge bales of straw from a local farm for just a few pounds.

Sue-UU

pinginal wrote: »

I haven't heard about straw being bad for chickens, are you sure about that? I know that you shouldn't use hay because mould spores breed easily in it. I buy huge bales of straw from a local farm for just a few pounds.

Straw isn't that much different to hay and yes, it's true that shavings is far better for them. You don't want mites to get in, believe me, so it's shavings every time.

NB. One thing to make sure you do is to buy in some red mite powder so that when it becomes hot you're ready and prepared NOT to let them affect you or your chickens! Dust the nest boxes and roosting pole with it every now and then religiously. You can also get a spray to spray the roof with as that's where they live, then in the evening/night times they come down onto the chicken and feed off them!

This isn't to alarm you, or anyone else, it's just to warn you so that some hot day you don't go in and thousands of them descend on you! It happened to us once and is vil e but so long as you keep doing all the above, you'll be fine - and so will your chicken!

Enjoy them, they're brilliant animals and so friendly, but ALWAYS wash your hands after handling them for the obvious reasons, as you should with all animals.

Sue.

V_Chic_Chick

pinginal wrote: »

I haven't heard about straw being bad for chickens, are you sure about that? I know that you shouldn't use hay because mould spores breed easily in it. I buy huge bales of straw from a local farm for just a few pounds.

The information has been given out and repeated by various highly regarded people (Katie Thear et al), although many people do use it. Straw also has a tendency to be wet underneath and dry on top, which encourages mould. Woodshavings tend to be the preferred type of bedding, and given how cheap it is, I'm happy to go along with it.

helenshappyhens

Hi
we buy our straw from the local farm and its only about £2 for a large bale. Never had any trouble with using it. agree that hay should not be used. I'm selling so many eggs (sold 48 eggs last week from 8 hens) that I've only had one egg to eat this week. Think I'll have to open my egg money pot to buy some more POL chicks.

We do btw put a layer of newspaper under the straw, I'd say pages from half a daily paper to make depth. This must soak up anything 'cause when we clean out every 6 days theres no wetness at all.

pinginal

I've kept hens for a few years now and have used straw all the while, without any experience of mites. I've also used paper shreddings which are free! Shavings do sound interesting though, do you use them in the nesting boxes too? Is google the best way to find a sawmill? You're welcome to some of my eggs, Helen, I'm being overrun by them at the moment!

pinginal

Also, any negatives with using shredded paper?