Help with mucking out wood pellet bedding please!!!!

Liostro

Liostro

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Hi
I recently purchased wood pellets and for the first 2 weeks they were great, took out poo every day and the very wet bits, now 2 weeks later and i havent really noticed til now but they look awful, they have gone a really dark brown (pooey colour!!!) and are so so heavy to lift..... Do I take this all out or just keep adding fresh on top?? I just want it to look nice again!!!! I must add it doesn't smell at all though and are definately absorbing the wee very well :-) x
 
No, don't take it all out, rake it over then top up with a dry bag which should absorb it all. If you have a very wet place then yes, take that out but don't disturb the base too much as that's part of why they work so well, just fill the hole with old bedding. The deeper the bed, the better it will be else it will get very wet and soggy as it has nothing to soak it up.
The colour is the only thing I don't like about pellets and I've been using them 3+ years now.
 
Thank u so much for the reply, I was starting to think I was doing it wrong!!! Do u cover the whole stable or just a corner? I have rubber matting and currently cover the whole stable, I'm thinking the muddy feet don't help with the colour changing to brown either!!!!
 
Lol. they just take some getting used to especially if you've been using white shavings!

I don't cover the whole floor, but I do have mats which help warm the box up whereas concrete uncovered is very cold. My boxes are 11ft deep, 13ft wide and the beds are at the back the whole way across but with about 4ft clear at the front; the hay is at the back so a lot of poo is splat just off the beds which helps a lot. Beds are getting towards 6 inches deep which is why they seem to stay drier and I am fanatical about raking any old hay out of the bed as that seems to clump it and hold the damp. I have loose not bagged pellets and use two black buckets a week per box, more if they need it of course.

Hope that helps.
 
I cover the whole stable and like to keep the bed around 1/2 a foot deep.

My horses are dirty and wet and I find this keeps me from bursting into tears every morning
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Firstly I take out the poop and any visible haylage from the bed.

Then I dig for the wet, clumpy areas. I take out the most saturated.

When I've done that I mix the whole bed up - the dry, unused sides with the 'traffic heavy' middle.

If the bed looks dark or sad - I throw more pellets down (dry).

Some people don't disturb the bed - but I really can't cope with that.
 
I find the deeper I keep mine the better they look and the less heavy they get. But they do discolour a bit. I've been on them for three years so have got used to the colour but it was a shock the first winter!
 
Is it like deep littering? Do you take the whole lot out in the spring? (Just being nosey).
 
Clodagh said:
Is it like deep littering? Do you take the whole lot out in the spring? (Just being nosey).
Click to expand...

I take out my wet once a week, well the really wet patch. Wouldn't bother to sweep the floor or anything like that, just take out the utterly sodden bit.

At the end of winter I put it up and usually have some left to start my bed the year after. It needs watering by then though!
 
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