Idiots guide to using wood pellets as bedding

[Ziggy_]

Well, my brand spanking new EVA mats are fitted in the stable, and I have several bales of wood pellets and several bales of shavings being delivered tomorrow morning.

I am intending to cover about half the stable floor, with a mixture of pellets and shavings (hopefully means I won't have to add water to the pellets). My mare is filthy in the stable and I want the quickest, easiest way of mucking out possible.

So can anyone give me an idiots guide to how I should maintain her new bed? Obviously poo will be removed daily - beyond that I'm lost.

 

[Chico Mio]

Wel, everyone will tell you to damp the pellets to 'activate' them, to me it just means they absorb less wee as they are full of water!! Although someone did say they could be slippery as dry pellets, I didn't have a problem.

To start I would put a layer of pellets about 10cm thick down, then cover them with a layer of shavings - maybe another 10cm. It seems like a lot but in time the pellets will break down and expand, giving a much thicker bed and you can then cut down on the shavings you put in.

Soooo. For the first week or so it will be a bit odd while the bed builds and consolidates but keep at it. I take out all poo, any disgustingly soggy bits then rake it around, trying not to disturb the bottom layer, even if it seems a bit wet (not sodden). Fresh layer of shavings over the top. Eventually you get to know the bed and it becomes easier. It will go a sandy brown colour but as long as it is poo free and doesn't smell, it's fine.

If you use banks, make them from shavings, draw your bed shavings down from the banks and put the new stuff into the banks.

I must say I put mats, pellets and shavings in to my stables about a fortnight ago and the beds are just coming right now. I have two geldings, one poos and buries it all over his bed, but doesn't wee a lot; the other wees half on mats and half on bed so I am always replacing the front part of his bed and poos everywhere in neat piles. Takes me about twenty minutes to do them both. I use a shavings fork to sift/lift poo and a stiff yard broom to sweep the mats clean (I just brudh everything back into thei bed - even stray bits of hay)

 

[RobinHood]

We've just started using wood pellets where I work am I'm really impressed with them. In 'my' stables I use pellets on the floor and make banks out of shavings, I don't think mixing the 2 would work very well. The key to mucking it out is to avoid the temptation to chuck everything up around the walls as normal. Just lift the poo out of the bed and gently shake the fork to get rid of any bedding. Mix any damp patches with drier bedding and remove any completely saturated patches. I was taking 3 enormous barrow loads out of each stable and I'm now getting all 3 stables in one barrow so I'm definitely a fan.

 

[RobinHood]

I forgot to say in the wetter/messier 2 stables I put half a bag of dry pellets in every other day, and in the other stable it got too dry and dusty so I dampen the pellets thoroughly first.

 

[Chico Mio]

I find mixing the two works fine on the floor, but banks need to be shavings (I don't have them). Agree with RH, I get eveything in one wheelbarrow and the trick is Don't Mess with It too much!