Help needed with wood pellets bed

I

IsabelleJ

Well-Known Member
Joined
16 June 2007
Messages
844
Location
Hampshire
Visit site
I have been using wood pellets for about a month now, loved them, then hated the sawdust all over my clothes, then decided I loved them again
smile.gif
I really need help with my bed though.

My boy wees in the middle of his bed. I have been putting a layer of unused pellets from the banks over the top, but every day it just looks disgusting, as if it is all soaking through. Is it because I have soaked the wood pellets too much (added half a bucket to each bag) so they are not absorbing? I want to semi deep litter, but as it is I have this disgusting mess in the middle of the stable, if I take it all out I will have to put loads of new pellets in, defeating the cost cutting!

His bed is an inch or two deep. Do I need to make it much deeper for semi deep littering to work? I am just worried that the wet part is soaking through to any new stuff that is placed on it. Will this happen if I double the depth of the bed do you think? Any tips much appreciated, have never done any sort of deep littering so it's all completely new to me!

Thanks,

Isabelle
 
Yup, you need to have it a bit deeper (but not loads deeper, just one more bag over the centre should do it) as it can only absorb so much. I take out about 2 shavings fork fulls each day of the very wettest bit & then scrape clean over. I put in a new bag every 6-7 days. If its getting dusty just give it a quick watering can spray down, just a light sprinkling does the job.
 
I don't know about deep litter as I don't like it myself, but with wood pellets you need to take out the bits that are really saturated, you'll see them as the pellets have turned into reddish, clumped together sand, add new stuff and then mix the whole thing in so that the sand bit mixes in with the new pellets. If your horse wees in the same spot it should be quick and easy to take out a fork full or two of the really wet stuff from that area (look out for it though as it usually settles at the bottom with cleaner stuff on top, especially if you have a large bed).

Are you adding water on a daily basis or did I misread it? You only need to lightly soak the bed the first time you put it down so that about half the pellets turn into sand, you do not need to water it ever again.
 
Do you have rubber mats?
When I started out with pellets I was going for a semi deep litter system as I didn't have rubber mats and tbh I really struggled- the bed was very wet and smelly and even then it still moved and my mare got capped hocks
frown.gif
I went out and bought some rubber mats and have never looked back - I now take out the wet parts (like everyone says it's usually a couple of fork fulls per wee patch) and then scrape the clean off the bankings to fill the gap - It works better if you have more bedding (IMHO) I really like it - I ran out and bough some Megazorb whilst I waited for a pallet of pellets to be delivered (and I previously was a huge Megazorb fan) - I couldn't wait to get the pellets back as they are so quick and easy to muck out
smile.gif

Kate x
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top