Wood Pellets advice needed please?

[Fifty Bales of Hay]

I'm new to using wood pellets for bedding and would appreciate some advice in how to get started with them please? And have a few questions.

How much water do you add to them, so as they don't resemble pony nuts?
Do you add the water to them - and then put them in the stable - if so what in?
Or do you lay them in the stable and sprinkle them with the hose? How long for?
In the winter months is it tricky maintaining the wood pellets bedding, if say water's frozen/tape's frozen?

They're slightly trickier than I first imagined they were going to be, not sure what I expected to be honest. Seems like quite a bit of faffing about to get them useable as bedding?

I only have a shallow bed, not a deep bed. But it does seem to keep quite stable and in place. I just can't seem to get the balance right between either oversoaking them or still having them look like pony nuts!

Thanks would really appreciate how you do yours if you don't mind sharing.

 

[JulzS]

I have been using wood pellets for 2 years now and I totally love them
I use the 10kg bags, each bag I empty into my wheelbarrow and add about 3/4 a bucket of water, then I leave it for about of 20mins to expand into nice fluffy bedding (there will always be some that still look like nuts but dont worry about them!)

I normally add 2 bags a week, one mid week and one at the weekend, and I usually leave the pellets to soak in my wheelbarrow after I have finished mucking out in the morning so they are all ready for when I come back at night, then its just a case of empty it into the bed, and you dont have to wait about on it expanding.

The only problem i did have was last winter when it got to about -15 for a few days, the whole bed froze due to the moisture content in it, but it was only during those extreme temps and was fine the rest of the winter.

My friend also uses pellets but in a totally different way, she doesnt really take out any of the wet, just mixes in the dry pellets and they expand by using the moisture already in the bed.

I think you just have to try a few ways and see what works best for you

 

[MissMincePie&Brandy]

We have rubber matting and shallow beds.

To start put about 7 bags into the stable, and give them a good soaking. we use watering cans to soak them. You'll probably need about 4 large watering cans full to start the bed off. Leave it for 15 minutes. Then come back and spread it out into the shape you want the bed to be.

We take all the wee out everyday and we use about 2 or 3 bags a week. Some people mix a lot of the wee back into the bed, and it is absorbed by the woodpellets so it's fine for the horses to stand on, and then they only need about 1 bag a week, but we find the beds can get a bit smelly after a while so we prefer to keep them fresher.

In this really hot, dry weather I am also giving the bed and extra watering (ie sprinkling a can full of water on every other day) as it can get too dry otherwise.

 

[Thisbe]

They are really good but if your in a rush I little tip hot water makes them expand quicker and I normally put a bag in at the bottom dry pellets as this then expands and absorbs the wee over time.

 

[Fifty Bales of Hay]

Thanks for the advice. I've added LOADS more water than that, no wonder I've ended up with a soggy mess before a horse has even been on it!

I was very concerned though with leaving anything that looks like a pony nut in the bedding, as I know "piggy" will try and eat it!

Misinterpreted, do you find it's not much more cost effective than shavings if you're using 2 or 3 bags a week (are these 10KG bags?). Or would you have normally used say 2 and not 1 bag of shavings to keep the bed clean and tidy?

 

[alex2]

I use the Corley wood 10Kg bags, and at the moment only 2 a week for a big stable as horses in during the day.
I put a bag in the stable on the bed, lie it flat and cut open from centre to each corner so you have 4 flaps that flap out. Then take 1/2 a bucket of water and tip into open bag. Leave at least 20 mins and you will be amazed, pellets swell right up and can then be tipped out and spread; This is easier than using a wheelbarrow for soaking.
I was using 2 bales of shavings a week per stable @ ~£8 per bale, and I am saving so much money now I'm using wood pellets, they are brilliant.

 

[Spyda]

I put a bag in the stable on the bed, lie it flat and cut open from centre to each corner so you have 4 flaps that flap out. Then take 1/2 a bucket of water and tip into open bag. Leave at least 20 mins and you will be amazed, pellets swell right up and can then be tipped out and spread

I was just going to say this is how I did it with the first bags I used to set the bed up. I laid 8 bags evenly around the stable floor and then did the above. After that I was able to add dry pellets into the bed when topping up. The moisture from the already-laid-bedding breaks the nuts down really quickly. When dry nuts are added to top up the established bed, and are mixed into the rest of the already fluffed bed, they practically disappear. I really doubt your chap would view them as food when mixed in like that. And they soon break down themselves to blend in completely.

 

[MissMincePie&Brandy]

Thanks for the advice. I've added LOADS more water than that, no wonder I've ended up with a soggy mess before a horse has even been on it!

I was very concerned though with leaving anything that looks like a pony nut in the bedding, as I know "piggy" will try and eat it!

Misinterpreted, do you find it's not much more cost effective than shavings if you're using 2 or 3 bags a week (are these 10KG bags?). Or would you have normally used say 2 and not 1 bag of shavings to keep the bed clean and tidy?

The good thing about woodpellets, is if you do over wet them, just add another dry bag and it will all sort itself out.

It is still much cheaper than shavings. My horse (being a big, messy, wet, fidgit, who tends to charge round and trash his stable just before breakfast time) would need 2 bags of hunter shavings a week, and these are now nearly £9 a bale The pellets we use are £2.97 for a bag of 10kg, so even at 3 bags a week it's half the price of shavings.

If I mucked out much more carefully and took him out of the stable before breakfasts are given out, we could cut it down to 2 bags a week, but first one on the yard feeds, so I can't expect other people to bring out my horse as soon as they arrive, just to keep my stable tidier.