This time of year, we need a lot of straw for our chickens and peacocks to help keep them warm and dry in addition to putting straw in the nesting boxes. And we know others need it for dog bedding.
Unfortunately, we have had a lot of trouble finding straw locally. In fact, we had recently talked to an employee at our local Tractor Supply today and he told us that they haven’t had straw in stock in weeks and they are having a problem with their supplier.
So, we ordered the EZ Straw from online (each bale was $7.99) about a week ago and it arrived today.
Here’s the product description: EZ Straw Just Straw, 10 LB, All Purpose Straw Bale, With Handle, Use As Seeding Mulch Or Pet Bedding.
This is the first time we have ever bought straw online and we were a little nervous about the quality. But we were very happy with this straw.
The bales are not large like regular square hay bales would be. They come bagged in plastic. But they are lightweight and easy to carry, and they hold a lot of compacted straw.
One bag covered almost all of the bottom of the peacocks’ pen, which is about 8′ x 14′. It was also way less dusty when spreading than a regular bale of wheat straw we had bough and used previously from AgriSupply. Make no mistake though. It is straw and there is definitely dust when it is being spread around, so you might want to make sure your chickens are elsewhere and take precautions to not breathe in the dust while you are initially put the straw down.
This straw also just seems clean and it smells nice, so we think the chickens and peacocks will be very happy with it as bedding and in the nesting boxes.
We know that some people don’t like to use straw, especially shredded straw, for chickens because some chickens will ingest the straw and get impacted crops. We don’t like to use straw often because we do worry about that risk. However, knock on wood, we have not had any issues with chickens and straw to date, and we only use it occasionally, such as for cold spells and when the ground gets very wet due to rainy spells (most of the time we use pine shavings). For pretty much everything you ever needed or wanted to know about impacted crop, check out https://ourinspiredroots.com/how-to-treat-impacted-crop-sour-crop-and-pendulous-crop/
Bottom line: We definitely recommend it and will likely buy it again.