Pine shavings for chicken coop bedding: Pros, cons, and how to do it right
UPDATE: Before reading this post any further, please first check out my more recent article, Pine shavings in the coop: The secret chicken killer?
If you’re like me, you want the very best for your chickens, and you know chicken coop bedding plays a strong role in the health and comfort of your girls and roos. In my search for the ultimate chicken coop bedding, pine shavings were the first material I tried.
Do pine shavings make good chicken coop bedding? Pine shavings are commonly used for chicken coops as they’re more absorbent than most other materials, have insulating properties, are low in cost and widely available, and can be used for the deep litter method and composting. However, pine shavings contain dangerous toxins that may cause serious harm to your chickens.
Here, you will learn everything you need to know about using pine shavings for chicken coop bedding, including:
Although I was disappointed after trying pine shavings for bedding (I’ll take sand in my coops any day), many people sing the praises of pine shavings in the coop! You might love them too!
For a more scientific treatment of the pros and cons of pine shavings, check out my article, The best chicken coop bedding: Sand vs. straw vs. pine shavings.
This post contains Amazon affiliate links for my favorite products. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.
WARNING - PLEASE READ: Pine Shavings may be TOXIC to Chickens
I wrote this post you’re now reading before doing thorough research on pine shavings toxicity. Please read my most recent article on pine, Pine shavings in the coop: The secret chicken killer?, before going any further with this post.
I considered deleting the post below as I no longer condone using pine shavings in the chicken coop, but I know a lot of people are going to use them anyway. I decided to keep this post live so that if you do decide to use pine shavings, you have a guide for the safest ways to use and maintain them.
Why Pine Shavings for Chicken Coop Bedding?
There are so many different types of wood shavings out there. Why is there so much attention on pine? Pine is typically preferred over other kinds of wood shavings because it’s:
Cheaper
More readily available
Less dusty
You can use some other types of wood shavings in your coop too, such as aspen shavings (a soft hardwood). These shavings, however, tend to be much more expensive.
You also want to be sure that the shavings you’re buying haven’t been treated with any kind of chemicals, whether you’re buying pine or something else. Some treated woods may be toxic for chickens.
One type of shavings you don’t want to use is cedar. Cedar contains Plicatic acid, which can cause asthma and respiratory illness in your chickens. Check out my article, Why you should never use cedar bedding in chicken coops, for more information.
You also don’t want to use sawdust, no matter what kind of wood it comes from. Whether it be pine, aspen, or anything else, sawdust is too fine grained for the chicken coop. It causes too much dust for the coop, and it may cause serious respiratory problems in your chickens.
For more information on using sawdust, wood shavings, or wood chips in your coop, check out my article, A comparison of 21+ chicken coop bedding materials.
The pros: Why pine shavings make good bedding for chicken coops
Two of my roosters, Quiggles and Champ, enjoy fresh pine shavings in the coop.
Below is a list of the many reasons that pine shavings can make a good bedding for the coop.
Pine shavings:
Are dry and absorbent
Are cozy and comfortable for chickens
Can be used for the deep litter method
Can be composted and used on gardens
Have insulating properties
Are low in cost
Are widely available
Are easy to store
Are lightweight
Pro #1: Pine shavings are dry and absorbent bedding
Compared to most other bedding types, pine shavings are dry and absorbent, which is incredibly important for coop bedding.
Absorbency is one of the most important characteristics you want in chicken coop bedding. Chicken poop is very moist, and if your bedding isn’t very absorbent, it will turn to a stinking, rotting, slimy mess in no time.
The more absorbent a bedding material is, the less smelly your coop will be, and the longer you can go without changing bedding.
Pine shavings, however, aren’t the most absorbent bedding, not even close.
When looking at the top three contenders for “best chicken coop bedding” (i.e., pine shavings, straw, and sand), pine shavings are intermediate in their absorbency. They tend to stay drier than straw, but they are considerably more moisture-rich than sand.
When you have sand in your coop, the poop and sand seem to dry out very quickly. Besides keeping the smell down, this also means there’s less moisture in the coop, and the chickens are cleaner. Yep, that’s right, your birds are actually cleaner themselves on sand. Let me explain why.
When you use pine shavings (or any other organic bedding) in your coop, the poop takes a while to dry out, and your chickens inevitably step in it. They carry it around with them on their feet, sometimes a lot of it. They also soil their nesting boxes and eggs with these poopy feet.
And your chickens will get filthy in another way. They will dust bathe in their pine shaving bedding. It doesn’t matter if your chickens have wonderful dust bathing material just outside the coop, or even in a container inside the coop, some of them will occasionally dust bathe in the bedding.
So, yeah, they get covered in whatever is in the bedding. In the case of pine shavings and other organic bedding, this includes wet poop. The poop doesn’t usually stick to them during the dust bath, but they’ve still bathed in it.
This is just something to consider—when you’re using organic bedding, like pine shavings, you will have a lot of wet poop in the coop. Again, pine shavings are a more absorbent bedding type than most other organic materials, which means this problem is only compounded in these other materials.
Pro #2: Pine shavings are a cozy and comfortable bedding for chickens
When you put fresh pine shavings in your coop, your coop has a wonderful feel to it. The pine shavings are dry, soft, and clean.
Your chickens will be super excited when you first put the shavings in. They will love walking around on the shavings, scratching in them, and even laying down in them.
Whenever I empty a coop and fill it with new shavings, my chickens will even lay eggs in the shavings. Although you don’t want chickens laying eggs on the floor, this only lasts for a few days. It’s a symbol of just how much chickens love fresh, soft bedding.
The freshness of pine shavings does wear off pretty quickly, usually within a few days, unless you have a very large coop with very few chickens soiling the bedding. Some people with smaller coops will choose to change their pine shavings bedding once or twice a week to retain the freshness. Their chickens are undoubtedly grateful!
Pro #3 Pine shavings are excellent for the deep litter method
Many chicken keepers, particularly homesteaders and those living in rural areas, will be interested in using the deep litter method.
In this method, you typically will only change the bedding in your coop once or twice a year. When the bedding starts to get moist or stinky, you simply add more bedding to it and mix it in, rather than replacing the old bedding.
People use this method because (a) it keeps their coops slightly warmer in the winter (heat is released during the bacterial breakdown of the bedding) and (b) the bedding can later be used as a rich compost for the garden.
Pine shavings are one of the best bedding types you can use for the deep litter method. Straw is also an excellent option. For more on straw, see my article, Using straw in the coop.
Pro #4: Composted pine shavings can be used on your garden
Even if you don’t use the deep litter method, you can throw your used pine shavings onto your compost pile. Pine shavings compost beautifully. Many chicken keepers use the finished product on their gardens.
Pro #5: Pine shaving bedding insulates
Pine shavings do provide some coop insulation, and may help keep your coop slightly warmer in the winter. However, I’ve found that if your coop is properly ventilated, it’s going to be cold no matter what.
Pro #6: Pine shavings are low in cost
Depending on where you live, pine shavings may be the cheapest bedding material you can find (other than free, less absorbent materials like dried leaves and dry, untreated grass clippings).
Pro #7: Pine shavings are widely available
Pine shavings can be found in almost every farm supply store. I buy mine at my local D&B. You can also buy them on Amazon, but as of the time of this writing, they are more expensive. I’ve bought these pine shavings on Amazon in the past (my farm store was temporarily out for a couple of months). Click here to check their current price.
Pro #8: Pine shavings are easy to store
Typically, you buy pine shavings in a plastic bag. You can get very large bags at your local farm store, or you can buy small bags online, like these pine shavings on Amazon. Whatever is left over, you can store in your garage, or anywhere that’s dry and above the ground (you don’t want rodents getting in them).
In this regard, pine shavings are much more convenient than straw, in which you may need a separate enclosed, well ventilated shed or facility for storage. This is because straw often only comes in large bales. (Although, you can buy bagged straw online as well.)
Pro # 9: Pine shavings are lightweight
Unlike sand, pine shavings are very lightweight, and filling your coop with them is very easy.
Straw is also lightweight initially, but it gets really clumped up and heavy with manure and moisture after being in the coop. Because of this, soiled straw can be heavy to move out of the coop. Pine shavings, on the other hand, stay fairly lightweight, even when soiled, so emptying your coop is much easier.
Some people also like to use a rake to rake out the soiled pine shavings, rather than replace all the bedding every time. An even easier approach is to use a pitchfork with fine tines, like this fine tine pitchfork on Amazon, to easily scoop out the soiled pieces.
This will greatly extend how long you can keep your bedding in the coop. This is also something you can’t do with straw—it pretty much all has to be removed when it starts to get yucky.
The cons of using pine shavings for chicken coop bedding
There are some cons to using pine shavings in the coop that I’ve listed below. Pine shavings are:
Medium-quality litter
Dusty
Strong scented
Organic (may harbor bacteria)
There aren’t a lot cons, but some of these are pretty major.
UPDATE: Research indicates that pine shavings bedding may be toxic for your chickens. Check out my article, Pine shavings in the coop: The secret chicken killer?, for a summary of the current research.
Con #1: Pine shavings are not a great litter
Compliments to the Chicken Chick for opening my eyes to this. Chicken coops don’t actually need bedding at all. They need litter.
Bedding is for “bedding” on—for example, livestock mammals, such as calves and piglets, may need bedding to sleep on in the barn. Chickens need roosting bars for sleep, not bedding.
The material on the floor of the chicken coop, then, is not for bedding purposes at all, but for waste management purposes.
So what makes good litter? Good litter is material that accomplishes these purposes:
Absorbs moisture
Neutralizes odors
Dries out droppings
Does not break down
Is non-toxic
Pine shavings are a very mediocre source of litter. They’re not terrible, but they’re certainly not exceptional.
Pine shavings do absorb moisture, although not as well as sand. They neutralize odor a little bit, partly because they absorb moisture, but also partly because the pine smell is so strong.
Pine shavings are mediocre at drying out droppings, and they utterly fail at not breaking down. Pine shavings are organic, so they are definitely going to break down—and this is why you are able to compost them.
Despite not having a good ‘litter scorecard,’ pine shavings is no worse than other organic bedding types as litter.
The only better litter source is sand, which gets a 100% on its ‘litter scorecard.’ For more on sand in the coop, check out my article, Using sand for chicken coop bedding.
Con #2: Pine shavings are dusty
This may be the worst quality of pine shavings, and this is why, after trying pine shavings for a whole year in my coops, I vowed to find a better option for my chickens.
Pine shavings are so dusty—don’t let anyone tell you differently. However, if you have a small coop, this might not be that big of a problem because your chickens aren’t scratching around in the coop as much.
When I used pine shavings in one of my small coops, the dust wasn’t as bad as my larger coop because my chickens would literally only go in the coop at bedtime. They’d go straight to the roosting bars.
They didn’t even lay eggs in the coop—I made sure to give them nesting boxes elsewhere (away from the pine shavings). They actually did also have nesting boxes built into the coop, but chose not to lay there.
In my large 10’x10’ chicken coop, on the other hand, my chickens spend a lot of time in there—they enjoy moving around in there, scratching around, and laying eggs.
During my first year raising chickens, I used pine shavings in my large coop too, and it was a nightmare. This is despite having really good ventilation in the coop. You don’t always see the dust (although you do always see it floating around if the sun hits it right), but your nose, eyes, and lungs sure feel the dust.
I couldn’t be in that coop for more than a minute without my eyes watering, my nose itching, and my lungs hurting. I do think I may have a bit of an allergy to pine based on this, but chickens have a much more sensitive respiratory system than we do. This dust can’t be good for them, and it can’t be comfortable for them.
I’m completely speculating here, but I wouldn’t be surprised if chickens living in pine shavings long term may suffer some respiratory issues down the road, or may be more susceptible to respiratory illnesses.
Update: This is no longer speculation—see my article, Pine shavings in the coop: The secret chicken killer?
I personally vowed I would never make my chickens live in pine shavings again as the dust and scent surely lower their quality of life. Many people disagree with me on this, though, and will tell you that their chickens live long, happy lives on pine shavings. If you’re on the fence, try it for yourself.
Con #3: Pine shavings are strong-scented
Pine smells amazing. I won’t disagree. When I poured my very first bag of pine shavings into my first coop, I relished the scent. However, I soon noticed that if I got down in the shavings at the chicken’s level, the scent was very strong—probably too strong.
As I mentioned above, chickens have very sensitive respiratory systems. I don’t know for sure that the super strong pine scent is causing them any sort of distress, but I suspect it might be.
I’m also biased because I am very sensitive to strong smells, much more so than the average person. But because of this, I understand how bad it can feel to be exposed to something that smells ‘too strong,’ and not be able to get away from it.
This is also why I never put aromatic herbs in my coop or nesting boxes, and another reason I’m not crazy about pine shavings.
I also did find a few comments in forums from others who believed pine shavings smelled too strong for their chickens too, so I don’t think it’s just me. Even the brilliant Lisa Steele of Fresh Eggs Daily had a similar experience, which she shares here. When she tried pine shavings once, and only once, she said:
Lisa admits that she doesn’t know for sure that the pine shavings were the cause of her chickens’ problems. She couldn’t think of anything else, though, and the problem subsided when the shavings were removed.
She also said:
Con #4: Pine shavings are organic (may harbor pathogens)
Many people want organic bedding so they can use it as compost, but it can come at a price, especially if you’re using the deep litter method.
Bacteria feeds on organic material (this is what breaks it down), so you’re going to have a lot of bacteria in your coop. Bacteria also like moisture, and organic material typically retains moisture (although pine shavings are better than a lot of other types of organic bedding).
The added moisture from chicken poop can actually make the coop a breeding ground for harmful pathogens, like E. coli, Coccidiosis, and mold. Please note that some of these pathogens (like E. coli and Coccidiosis) have to be introduced into the coop by chickens or contaminated objects (like your shoes), so they won’t just appear on their own. But if they do show up, this is a good place for them to grow.
For a summary of scientific studies that have looked at pathogen growth in pine shavings, see my article, The best chicken coop bedding: Sand vs. straw vs. pine shavings.
Additionally, too much moisture in the coop leads to an ammonia buildup in the coop. This ammonia is released from the process of bacteria decomposing droppings. Moisture from the droppings helps speed up the breakdown of the droppings and bedding, and so more ammonia is released in a shorter amount of time. High ammonia levels are extremely rough on a chicken’s eyes (in extreme cases, causing blindness) and are damaging to a chicken’s respiratory system.
If you have a drinker leak, even a little, in pine shavings, the ammonia level may sky rocket in very little time. My first year raising chickens, one of my drinkers in the coop was leaking a tiny bit. I couldn’t even tell. The bedding on top was completely dry.
But then I walked into the coop one morning, and the ammonia smell was overpowering—I mean really, really bad! I had no idea why. I immediately emptied the entire coop (despite the bedding having only been in there a few days).
What happened is that the water had trickled to the floor. The pine shavings on top were exposed to the air and dry (and gravity took the water deeper), but the layer of pine shavings on the floor, hidden from view, was soaking wet.
When I exposed the wet pine shavings while emptying the coop, the smell was enough to almost knock me out. I was also very worried there may be mold forming.
These kinds of things don’t happen with sand in the coop, but they do with organic bedding.
Of course, this could have been prevented if I didn’t have water in the coop, but I don’t like depriving my chickens of water at any time. And at the time this happened, it was the heat of the summer, and my chickens were still very young. Some of them were afraid of being outside for very long. I had lots of water in the coop to keep them hydrated.
One way to prevent or at least reduce all of the risks discussed here is to change your pine shaving bedding frequently. You should at least consider removing the droppings from the shavings with a fine tine pitchfork on a daily or, at the very minimum, a weekly basis.
Another great way to prevent or reduce these problems is to sprinkle zeolite crystals into your shavings. All of the problems I detailed above were caused, or greatly exacerbated, by moisture. Zeolite crystals attract water and can absorb a lot of the extra moisture. You can find zeolite crystals here on Amazon.
Also, I do want to clarify that pine shavings are better than most other organic bedding at staying dry, and, therefore, at limiting these problems. Only sand is a better contender, due to its inorganic nature. For more on sand, check out my article, Using sand in the coop.
Pine shavings vs. other types of bedding
Check out my thoroughly researched article, A comparison of 21+ chicken coop bedding materials. You’ll see that out of all possible bedding materials, pine shavings ranks very low due to its toxicity.
Sand and straw are much better choices. For more information, see my article, The best chicken coop bedding: Sand vs. straw vs. pine shavings.
Finding and buying pine shavings for your chicken coop
When you’re buying pine shavings, buy the largest flakes you can find. Very fine-grained shavings will be very dusty, and may potentially cause respiratory problems in your chickens.
Where do you find pine shavings for your chicken coop?
Pine shavings are available at almost any farm supply store, like D&B or Tractor Supply. You can also order them online, although they are more expensive there. In the past, I’ve bought these pine shavings from Amazon.
How much do pine shavings for your chicken coop cost?
I bought my pine shavings from my local D&B for ~$10 for a very large bag. My large 10’x10’ coop required about 2-3 bags of shavings to get started. My smaller coops required about ½ a bag.
When I bought pine shavings on Amazon, the price was higher. Check the current price here.
How to use pine shavings in your chicken coop
Pine shavings supplies
Here is a list of the supplies that I use with pine shavings, and Amazon links for each:
How I use these supplies is explained in detail below.
How to move pine shavings into your chicken coop
It’s so easy. First, put on your safety glasses and dust mask to protect your eyes, nose, and lungs from irritants. Believe me, you’ll need them! Then, you just open the bag and pour the pine shavings onto the coop floor. Or, if you prefer, you can use your hands to put handfuls of the shavings in at a time.
You can fluff the shavings up a bit if you want, but you don’t need to do so. The shavings will expand on their own pretty quickly.
What depth should pine shavings bedding be in your chicken coop?
Your bedding should be at least 3-4 inches in depth, but your chickens will appreciate you if you give them closer to 6 inches.
How to keep pine shavings bedding clean in your chicken coop
There are a few different ways to keep your bedding as clean as possible:
Drastically reduce the amount of poop in your bedding by using a droppings board or tray under your roosts. Every day, use a scraping tool, like this taping knife on Amazon, to scrape the tray or board clean. I scrape mine into a container, like this plastic tote on Amazon.
Periodically, use a special rake or pitchfork, like this fine tine pitchfork on Amazon, to remove the soiled pieces of bedding from the coop floor. If you scoop up bedding with the fine tine pitchfork, most of the clean bedding will fall through the tines—so easy to scoop the poop out!
Mix zeolite minerals into your shavings to drastically reduce the moisture content and extend the life of your bedding.
Change bedding more frequently or mix in fresh bedding with the old bedding.
How often do you need to replace pine shavings bedding in your coop?
Pine shavings can last quite a long time as bedding. How often you change them is largely a personal choice. As long as the shavings are dry, and are 3-6 inches in depth, you may be able to go a couple of months before you absolutely have to change them. If you use some of the methods outlined in the section above, you may be able to go even longer.
But you need to use your best judgment. You should never smell ammonia in your coop. If you smell even a hint, you need to change your bedding.
When I used pine shavings, I found that the coop always had a little bit of a poopy smell, except when I first replaced the old shavings with new. Then it would smell fine for a few days. A little bit of a smell seems inevitable with shavings, unfortunately, but your coop should never smell really bad.
If you want to keep the coop always smelling fresh, replace your shavings once or twice a week. I know a lot of city dwellers take this approach because their coops are so small. It’s much harder to do this if you have a large coop—time and money become a factor.
If you can replace shavings frequently, though, your chickens will be in heaven. They are ecstatic over fresh bedding!
At the other extreme is the deep litter method, where you don’t replace the bedding for a long period of time, typically 6 months to a year.
You can see that the question, “How often should I change my bedding?” doesn’t have one straightforward answer.
After first trying the deep litter method and hating it, I settled on changing out pine shavings every two weeks for my coops. One week would have been ideal (I want my chickens living in the most comfortable conditions), but it really is a lot of time and work shoveling out a large coop every week.
If I’m being perfectly honest, though, the real thing holding me back from changing the bedding every week was the dust and irritants I faced. There was a real dread factor for me when it came to emptying and refilling the coop. Even with safety glasses and dust mask, I felt awful after shoveling out the pine shavings.
How to move pine shavings out of your chicken coop.
In a small coop, you can scrape pine shavings out of the coop into a bin or bucket. I use the same taping knife and plastic tote that I use for scraping my chickens’ droppings boards.
For a large coop, you’ll need a large shovel to get the shavings out. You can shovel them into a tractor bucket, wheelbarrow, trash can, or straight onto a compost pile, whatever works best for you. I prefer to use this type of heavy duty snow shovel for this task, whereas my husband prefers a regular heavy duty shovel.
Can pine shavings be used as bedding in the brooder?
Pine shavings can be used as bedding in the brooder. In fact, pine shavings may be the most commonly used bedding in brooders, at least in the United States.
In the past, I have used pine shavings in my brooders (see some of my sweet chicks in the photo). I do have some concerns about this now, however, for the same reasons I don’t like the shavings in the coop. I worry about the poor chicks being in strongly scented bedding that has a lot of fine dust.
When I first brooded chicks, I brooded them inside a large cage, like this large dog kennel on Amazon. The cage was inside a room in my home. Although I didn’t initially notice the dust, within only a day or two, every surface of the room was covered in a thick layer of dust. This just can’t be good for chicks!
Next time I brood chicks, I’ll try sand (although it has its own potential problems as a brooder bedding – see my article here on Using sand in the coop).
UPDATE: I strongly advise against using pine shavings in your brooder. Please see my article, Pine shavings in the coop: The secret chicken killer?, for more information.
Can pine shavings be used in the run?
You can use pine shavings in your run under certain conditions.
Some people spread their old, very soiled pine shavings from the coop into the run to let them finish composting. If you do this, you’ll want to keep a close eye out to make sure the shavings don’t get too moist. Otherwise, you could get dangerous mold growing.
However, even in dry conditions, I, personally, wouldn’t put soiled shavings in the run at all. This is simply because I’d be afraid of my chickens being exposed to mold and other growing pathogens that I may not be able to see. I may worry excessively over my babies, though, so make your own sound judgment.
I suppose you could spread fresh pine shavings in your run, but I’ve never heard of anyone doing this. You’d only want to consider it if the conditions were very dry and there was no wind. Fresh shavings are so lightweight, even a small breeze will likely blow some (or all) away.
You also don’t want to put even fresh pine shavings out in moist or wet conditions because they’ll get soaked, won’t make good run bedding, and you may get mold growth.
Some people combine pine shavings with other types of bedding—straw, wood chips, dried leaves—in their runs. All of these bedding types, though, are conducive to mold growth in wet conditions, so be very careful.
Although pine shavings can be used in the run, they may not be the best choice. You may want to consider sand—check out my article on Using sand in the coop—you’ll find information on sand in chicken runs at the bottom.
You may also be interested in:
The BEST luxury coop you’ll ever buy: Spoil your chickens with Rita Marie's
Sand for chicken coop bedding: Pros, cons, and how to do it right
Straw for chicken coop bedding: Pros, cons, and how to do it right