Sorry... yet another Wood Pellets question!

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Naggy

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I know that there have been tons of threads on Wood Pellets, but I can't seem to find my question answered anywhere on any of them, so hopefully someone can clue me in!

I have just laid down 2 beds this weekend and I am pretty impressed so far, but I am finding that it is taking me ages to muck out as one of mine grinds her droppings in a bit and I am on my hands and knees trying to pick out every tiny bit of poo as I am paranoid that if I leave any in there it won't work properly! Am I just being far too picky?! What does everyone else do with theirs - even my usually very tidy girl has trodden them in a bit in comparison to any other bedding she has been on. I was hoping to reduce my mucking out time rather than lengthen it!

Hopefully you will all tell me that I am being anal and don't need to worry about little bits of poo making the bed revolting over time!! ;-)

Thanks! :-)
 
Are you deep littering? I find that wood pellet beds take a few weeks to settle down and develop a base. Once its settled then the poo stays on top much better rather than vanishing down in.
 
Do you have a fork specifically for wood pellets? the prongs are much closer together than a normal shavings fork, sieving out even the smallest bits of poo from the bed and its really quick :)
 
also have you dampened the pellets a bit before putting them in? I use aubiose and wood pellets together and that works very well. can just pick up the poop with gloves, no fork required.
 
Naggy said:
I know that there have been tons of threads on Wood Pellets, but I can't seem to find my question answered anywhere on any of them, so hopefully someone can clue me in!

I have just laid down 2 beds this weekend and I am pretty impressed so far, but I am finding that it is taking me ages to muck out as one of mine grinds her droppings in a bit and I am on my hands and knees trying to pick out every tiny bit of poo as I am paranoid that if I leave any in there it won't work properly! Am I just being far too picky?! What does everyone else do with theirs - even my usually very tidy girl has trodden them in a bit in comparison to any other bedding she has been on. I was hoping to reduce my mucking out time rather than lengthen it!

Hopefully you will all tell me that I am being anal and don't need to worry about little bits of poo making the bed revolting over time!! ;-)

Thanks! :-)
Click to expand...

You are just being a bit to picky:D Your horses won't die of a bit of poo and the pellets will be just fine:)

And all the advice above is good too.
 
Unless you need a 100% clean bed, then leaving the little bits of poo in does no harm with pellets. If I tried to get all the bits out of Farra's bed I would be there for hours, or change the bed each day! She likes to mash in and kick it everywhere.

I have a very fine metal shavings fork, so I just scoop out the worst, then rake over the top to the front so all the hay and big lumps are off the bed and quickly sieve the worst remaining lumps out with the fork. Her bed is filled with tiny bits of poo but it is dry and fairly clean which is fine.

The thing you do want to get out of the pellets is any hay as these seem to really attract the wet and make the bed wet.
 
I just have a bog standard shavings fork (metal - for toneing the bingo wings) and use the 'sift for gold' method.

Sadly I couldn't do the 'digging for truffles' method. I'd never get back up again.

To the OP - get another horse. Then you won't have time to worry about the bed being perfect anymore. Simples......
 
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