Another wood pellets thread...

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Tash88

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I'm moving my boy to another stable on the yard tomorrow and I'm going to try him on a full wood pellet bed; at the moment he is on a thin layer of WPs then a deepish straw bed on rubber mats; I use the WPs because I can't bear wet straw, and he can be rather wet. He is semi deep littered with all the wet taken out once a week and another bag of WPs put down, soaking them first.

I have ordered 10 bags to start the new bed off, he will be on rubber mats in a 12x12 stable - does this sound about right? If it doesn't seem enough I have another two bags spare but I won't be able to get any more until next Friday as my YO doesn't keep a stock - I am the only person who uses them! I'm planning on taking the droppings out every day and leaving the wet, then taking this out once a week and putting another bag in like I do now, is this what you're meant to do? I don't really see how I can put a little in each day like I do with straw now because of the soaking involved, but I can't really afford to use more than two extra bags a week to maintain the bed.

BTW I am fairly fussy and like a nice white bed, in a rather sad way I am rather excited about only having to muck out a straw bed for one more day! :o

Thanks in advance, Tx
 
If you like your bed nice and white you may struggle only putting one or two bags in a week. To give you an idea, out of seven horses here, three of them need three bags a week. The rest of them two bags. I put in a bag at least twice a week.
 
Changed to wood pellets and they are fab!! Use Verdo. Same size stable as yours with rubber mats. Ten bags to start gave lovely bed. Take all poo out each day then sat dig up whole bed wet out and new bag in although only really need half bag. Works really well, dry clean bed and my boys are messy *******! Only downside is pellets go brown so visually not so appealing but works a treat! 😃
 
As Wagtail says ^

I don't put in a couple of bags though. Provided it's dry enough for them then I've given up worrying about the colour. But I am financing bedding for six of my own so if they all have an extra bag a week it mounts up considerably.
 
Tash88 said:
BTW I am fairly fussy and like a nice white bed, in a rather sad way I am rather excited about only having to muck out a straw bed for one more day! :o
Click to expand...

Haha! Good luck with that! Wood pellets go brown.

I've used wood pellets for years. I rarely take out any wet, but I do it when the wet patch becomes a bump in the otherwise flat bed. I dig out only a couple of inches of wet (not going to the floor) then rake over dry bedding. The bed is firm, dry and odourless but a long way from white.
 
We use wood pellets, I prefer Woodlets to Verdo, they fluff up quicker than Verdo. 10 bags should be plenty to start off your bed. We muck out & remove the wee every day. It's quick to do as the pellets 'clag' together like cat litter with the pee so its easy to remove. We put a new bag in every 2nd day & that keeps the bed nice & fresh & at a decent level. We tried leaving the wee in & removing at once or twice a week but our horses tend to stir the bad a bit so the beds became messy. The way we do it now suits our horses.

The beds do go brown over time but they don't smell & are easy to manage. Three bags of pellets cost roughly the same price as a bale of shavings so cost effective.
 
It is possible to maintain a really nice white bed with wood pellets. But depending on the horse it can take anything from 2 bags to 7 bags a week. And yes, I have had a horse here that needed 7 bags a week. Owner paid for the extra as she didn't want a brown bed. I still have one here that uses 4 a week. Thankfully they are all out 24/7 at the minute.
 
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Mine is on a 4-6 inch deep Verdo bed with big banks and rubber mats. I top up with a new bag every 5 days and will do a bumper top up every so often if he has been particularly vile/bed is a bit old. I fully muck out every day and take out around half a barrow. Bed doesn't look too brown, although you definitely notice the difference when adding new.

P.s. He is a big lad and can cr*p for Britain but isn't that wet.
 
It is possible to maintain a nice clean looking bed with two bags a week and I'd suggest that as the OP has already been using them below her straw bed, her usage shouldn't be much different with a pure WP bed.

In order to maintain a clean looking WP bed, I tend to remove all droppings and take out any clearly visible wet each day, covering any firm wet patches with dry WP. Remove total Wet patch once per week, fill hole with existing WP and then add clean WP to a clean area of the bed... the rotation of the 'staler' bedding in this way ensures the clean stays clean for longer :) I use 2 bags per week for a wet 17.2hh boy in a 11 x 16 box with bed up one end :)
 
I have found that it is not how wet a horse is that can be a problem, but how much they churn up the bed. The horse that needed 7 bags would manage to mix in his poo throughout the bed, wall to wall. There was not even a whole small segment of poo left anywhere in his bed. The largest bits were the size of a 50p piece. I have a similar one here now, but he does leave two corners 'unmashed'. But yes, even the wettest of horses can be kept on a pristine pellet bed with only two bags a week. My mare was very wet, but also exceptionally tidy, doing all her poo in one pile and wee in one place. Her bed always looked very pale and spotless on 1 - 2 bags of pellets a week. Unfortunately, not many horses are like that.
 
If you want a white bed I would recommend five star professional. Verdo are very dark and not very absorbent.
 
I have tried every pellet on the market and I find Woodlets as good as 5* professional. I loved the 5 star, but when I found woodlets I switched as they are quite a bit cheaper.
 
I tried them for a while but switched back to shavings as I thought they looked horrible, so I have a nice white fluffy bed back now, I do use them for the guinea pig and they work a treat for him.
 
I add a bale of shavings and a bed lasts over a week without needing topping up. I'm on Verdo, which vary between £4-£5 a bag, depending on supplier. Infinitely cheaper if you order a pallet of Liverpool or something cheaper. To start a bed, I'd use a max of 8 bags.
 
Thanks for the replies and sorry I'm only responding now - been busy with horses, cooking dinner etc. And rescuing a swan who'd found himself in the middle of the road!

I have ordered 10 bags to start off but already have two so if I do need to put in two this week I should be okay - I get a delivery every Friday. I think it will be a case of seeing how my horse gets on, he doesn't generally churn his bed up although he might for the first few days as he is in a different area of the yard. He tends to poo mainly at the front and as he's on mats I'll probably leave that section bare so it's easier to muck out. He also wees in one place so even if it is really wet I can take it out and fill the hole in with clean WPs, without disturbing too much of the bed.

Re the colour, I will see how brown it goes but like some of you have done, I could also top up with shavings so it looks a bit prettier. At the moment I'm using Chapelstone ThirstyBed and find it quite good, it's just over £5 a bag. My YO orders everything though so I don't get much choice in what brand of bedding I have, it's whatever the feed merchant has in and the same goes for shavings - I might have a look on their website and see if they have the suggested brands though.

Thanks again, Tx
 
First day:
IMAG0790.jpg


After a couple of days:
IMAG0637_zpsa8a43b31.jpg


They do go brown quickly but there's no smell and you go home smelling less too!
 
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I use Platinum Plus Pellets which stay really white. I prefer to mix with a bag of small shavings so the bed is a bit fluffier and make bigger banks but even without shavings it stays nice and bright and very absorbent.
 
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