EEEK....I just read a posting on Kitchen Gardeners concerning cedar shavings & toxicity. I had not heard of this before. My chickens are all on a bed of cedar shavings. I am doing DLM, the initial 2 inches were pine , but the other 2-4 inches are cedar. The breeder I bought my chicks from on Sunday had hers on cedar, so I bought a bale from her. My coop & run are very well ventilated so the smell of cedar seems dispersed.I am sooo confused now....what about the rest of you? What are you all using & what do you know about cedar vs. pine?

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  • I just found out that the bedding sold to me by the breeder is NOT cedar. Yahoo!!!! So the chicks are fine. I did discover that Western Ranchmens did sell me a bale of cedar though, luckily its un-opened & I am going to return it. Thank you so much to everyone for the feedback.

    :)
  • I raise parrots and I've also been told it is the oil in the cedar that can be harmful. I would rather be safe than sorry and nix the cedar. I use alfalfa straw as a bedding material.
  • fyi...I use sun coast large flakes - pine...and sometimes straw and then add blocks of alfalfa for fun and to make them happy.
  • Cedar gives off fumes, it's not good for rats, rabbits, guinea pigs etc so I would imagine you shouldn't use it with any living thing. I would switch to just pine.
  • I had always read not to use cedar either so I always use pine.
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