Another wood pellet post

Equus Leather

Equus Leather

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Hmmm, well I changed my bed from straw to pellets at the beginning of Dec. I have a 12 x 12 stable, no mats and wanted the whole floor covered, with good depth and banks.

I put down 14 x 10kg bags initially and for the first 2 weeks it moved a lot, and I'd often find my horse with bare concrete where she stands to eat her nets.

I put in a bag of shavings to put in as banks as there wasn't enough bedding to do this.....since then i've used about 2 bags a week but the bed is starting to smell, it still isn't as solid a base as I would like, and i've had to put in more shavings to dry the bed out.

So, am in the not impressed camp unfortunately, which leaves me with 19 bags for sale as I'm just going to go down the shavings route.

Anyone else disappointed with them?
 
nope, love them! sorry
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Do you want a deep litter bed? If you don't, it will be difficult to stop the bed from moving but I would imagine you would have the same problem with shavings.

If you do want a deep litter bed you need to wait a lot longer as wood pellets are very absorbent and it will take a while to create the congealed bed of urine needed for a deep litter bed. If you want deep litter you will get it faster with shavings.

As for banks, yes I think you are right, it is very difficult to do big banks with pellets unless you use a huge amount.

Pellets will only smell if used as deep litter, but so will anything else as the amonia from the urine will always smell in deep litter. If your pellets are smelly, it may be because you are not taking out enough of the completely wet bits or not mixing in the slightly wet bits with the new stuff so it can dry.
 
Did you wet the pellets first so they expanded to sawdust? When you first put the bed down you need to wet them. I deep litter but started on shavings with cardboard on, and have put a couple of bags of pellets on in the last month or so as it helps to dry up the top of the base well. I use shavings over the top and that combined with the pellets help stop the wet coming through and creates a good base.
 
soz... i love them!

but can imagine they'd leave bare patches without mats. have you thought about putting mats down? you can get second hand mats fairly cheap (i got 4 stables of 6month old equimats for £200). they'll pay for themselves within a year i reckon as it does sound like you're using rather a lot of pellets.

i don't bank mine, as after watching raff rolling about in his stable i realise his banks would have to be 3ft tall to do anything...
 
Thanks for your replies...yes I wet them till they were sawdust
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Not going down the mat route, they are horrible stinky smelly things!

Yes I am deep littering, and when I was putting new bags down on top of the current bed I was mixing it in to try and soak up the worst of the wetness, but it did nothing, just stayed as pellets. I've tried all different ways, soaking in a wheelbarrow then putting down, putting down and soaking in the stable....just hasn't worked out. Hasn't worked for my friend either, and her mare is very, very wet and her bed is disgusting
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Back to shavings for me!
 
Fair enough!

For what it's worth I have never heard of pellets refusing to soak and I have used WoodyPet, Aquamax, Nature's Best and another one whose name I can't remember, but I suppose there is a first time for everything!!!
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out of interest what brand of pellets are they?

mine are bedded down with minimum 6 inch beds, thicker where they lay down. one of my girls traipses her bed round quite a bit so it does spread out but still enough to lay on. I have banks too, i find it banks up pretty well.

I take the poo out daily, the wet sinks to the bottom (this is why i prefer a thicker bed so the top stays dry) so i dont disturb it too much. when it comes to full muck out and turning the bed its really heavy and well compacted down.

i have found, that if there was a wee patch that looked a little wet on top, by the evening it had either dried out or sunk to the bottom.

im on mats though, and have always been with shavings and straw too. makes such a difference but you are right they do smell underneath if you lift them.
 
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Oh, they do soak with water, but putting them down whole and hoping they'll absorp the wee hasn't worked
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Hope this doesn't sound dim and condescending, it's not meant to be!!!!! Do you mix in the new pellets with the wet stuff? If the new pellets lie on top they might not get wet enough to break up.
 
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Yeah, the part of the bed she wees in is very wet on top, so I mix them in with this, but it just seems to make more manky wee stuff! It never looks clean, like it does with shavings.

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Fair enough, I give up, I have no idea why this is not working!!!
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Did you wet the pellets first so they expanded to sawdust? When you first put the bed down you need to wet them. I deep litter but started on shavings with cardboard on, and have put a couple of bags of pellets on in the last month or so as it helps to dry up the top of the base well. I use shavings over the top and that combined with the pellets help stop the wet coming through and creates a good base.

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Ive got the base as same as you and now having problems with the wet coming up?? Have just put another bale os shavings and a bale of Auboise onto the base hopeing it will dry it up??? I think I might try your way of pellets onto the base then shavings is that right?? Also did you wet them first or just staight onto the base?? Im just worried over them being eaten. I have gone though so many bales of shavings!!
 
I had exactly the same problem.
I basically chucked about 10 extra bags in and haven't let it run down hardly at all and now the smell has gone and he doesn't get through to the floor (he's on mats) I turn the bed over daily and noticed it's not very solid but because it's deep enough it doesn't move about. Tho I am adding perhaps 4 bags a week.
My mum doesn't turn her bed over, just digs the wee out and removes the droppings daily, loosely rakes the top and puts fresh bedding in about 1 or 2 bags a week. Her bed is now deep and solid.
With both beds, because the bed is deep the wee stays in a small compact circle and doesn't spread/get walked about which has a) reduced the smell greatly to being non-existent and b) means taking the wet out is a 2 minute job. Plus the wet doesn't mix in with the clean bedding then (again reducing smell and also saving time picking through bedding), so we just keep the bed damp with a watering can
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I think the pellets are great is you give a full bed, if it's just a smattering of pellets to soak up wee on rubber mats I would avoid it like the plague
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I don't soak mine because I put them straight on to a wet shavings base.

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I tend to dig out the damp area (the horse on pellets only pees in one place, bless her heart) and put dry pellets at the bottom and old bedding back on top. It works really well so long as she doesn't dig too much the first day.


The problem with bare sections for me was annoying at first, even on good rubber mats. My stables are open day and night, so the horses can go in and out at liberty. They aren't fed indoors at all, so I simply added a deeper layer and it soon settled well. Even if I use three bags each week, it's cheaper than shavings and doesn't blow about through my open doors at all.
 
Mats are only stinky and smelly if you don't use enough bedding. Mine have never smelt bad, but my neighbours box without mats stinks.

I've tried wood pellets but didn't like them as they weren't absorbent enough for my old pony who only likes to wee in her stable (bless). I've tried megzorb which was great but hard to get up here and slightyly dusty when its put down.

I'm currently using snowflake, from knox's in gateshead. Its 6.90 a bag there is loads in it and its quite absorbent. Its not dusty at all and it sticks together so doesn't leave patches to the floor.
 
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