Big Fan of Coffee Grounds

Our coop is 3 ft by 5 ft for 6 Barred Rock Hens. They only go in the coop to lay eggs and sleep, so the size is just right. We've had chickens for 10 years now, and have always used Sweet PDZ in the bottom of the raised coop. Daily cleanup of last nights poop is a snap every day. BUT, the price of PDZ has gone through the roof this year. A 40 lb. bag at Tractor Supply used to be $10, now it's up to $18. So we looked for a cheaper method of coop bedding, and tried the pine shaving route for about 9 months. Hard to keep the coop as clean as I like and it's dusty as hell.

So after reading about the recycled coffee grounds used for bedding, we decided to give it a try. A 35 lb bag is only $10.99 at Tractor Supply, and 1 bag will cover our coop bottom about 2 inches deep all the way across. Same coverage as about $34 worth of PDZ. Daily clean up is ALMOST as easy as PDZ. We just use a common cat litter scooper to sift the poop, and plop last night's droppings in a bucket. The ONLY downside is that the coffee grounds are almost black in color, so spotting the poop to scoop takes a little bit of looking. BUT, the coffee grounds are even less dusty than PDZ!

So, compared to PDZ, the advantages of the coffee grounds bedding are:
1) Less than a third of the cost of PDZ
2) Less dusty than PDZ by far
3) About half of the weight of PDZ, which is important if using in a raised coop.

I'll let y'all know if I find any drawbacks, but right now I can't find any.

Ken

I couldn't stand the smell of the coffee grounds. If it gets in the chicks waterer, then they are drinking coffee too. How do you know the bedding is the cause of the dust?

The chickens waterer is outside the coop, so no worries about "making coffee". I'm pretty sure that it was the PDZ and then the pine shavings making the dust, since I'm the one that was scooping everyday. Hard to get that one mixed up.

jher77 said:

I couldn't stand the smell of the coffee grounds. If it gets in the chicks waterer, then they are drinking coffee too. How do you know the bedding is the cause of the dust?

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The ground coffee has been brewed already so there would be very little coffee that would be left to extract, if any.

Buzzard Hill Chickens said:

A 40 lb. bag at Tractor Supply used to be $10, now it's up to $18.

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IME.... TSC sells 25# bag for $10-12, never seen a 40# bag there.
I do buy 40# bags from my mill for about $16-18.
Might want to check your poundage's.

Curious how long you've used the grounds?

littlecoopnextdoor said:

The ground coffee has been brewed already so there would be very little coffee that would be left to extract, if any.

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If that is correct, why does the water becomes brown?

jher77 said:

If that is correct, why does the water becomes brown?

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likely because the grounds are brown, so some colour would be transferred when wet. If you brew coffee with used grounds, it would make a really really weak cup of coffee, and that's when you do it with boiling water. If you're very concerned you can write to the company. I would not fret about it

I'm not concerned for me, I don't use them.

Have you ever used a mix of the pdz and coffee grounds?

I'll have to go see if my local TSC has those.

Any excuse to go look at the little chicks!