Litter – A Versatile Word and Odd One in Chicken Vocabulary

“Bedding” means soft wood chips or straw in a horse or cow’s stall But if the same material is in a chicken coop it’s “litter” That seems weird

 

When applied to chickens the word “litter” has nothing to do with trash scattered along a road The word is derived from the ancient Latin lectos which meant “bed” and was used to describe a flat platform carried by husky men with the emperor riding on top   The French changed the word to litiere and used it differently  French linguist, Mark Norlander, translated it to mean, “a bed of soft and insulating

The Best Chicken Coop Bedding for a Healthy Flock

One of the first questions almost every new chicken owner asks is simple: What is the best chicken coop bedding to use? It sounds like it should have an easy answer, but the truth might surprise you, even if you have been raising hens for years The bedding you put on your coop floor affects everything from odor and bacteria to your birds’ feet and the cleanliness of your eggs, so it pays to get it right from the start

Interestingly, very little scientific research has focused on bedding for backyard flocks Most studies have looked at industrial broiler farms,