Wood pellets for bedding

[oldhat]

Has anyone out there tried those wood pellets for horse bedding? The ones that you put down then water to make thenm fluff up? If so, how much water do you have to add and is it really that good? There is a local business near here who supplies them and of course (in theory) they shouldn't be eaten, but the idea of watering them seems to go against the idea of a dry stable! I'm still intrigued though as they could be a cheaper alternative to other bedding.

 

[nikicb]

Try using the search function on here - there have been numerous threads about these recently, so hopefully all your questions should be answered there. There was a specific post about the wet factor in this thread.....

http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=391868&highlight=wood+pellets

If anything, I find them too dry, but that's because I take the wet out each day. To compensate, I wet the new pellets when I put them in (in theory you are only meant to wet them when you first start out). Been using them a few weeks, and now I'm getting the hang of them, finding them pretty good.

 

[suzi]

I've been using them for about 2 months and am happy! Cheaper than shavings but smaller much heap than straw.

The ones I got were a bit dusty to start with (despite being advertised as dust extracted) but the company have just brought out a cheaper value range which I thought I'd try and I prefer them as the 'flakes' seem to be bigger and so less dusty once the pellets have broken down.

 

[MissMoo]

As nikicb said there are a fair few posts on here re wood pellets.

Personally I love them and have been using them for a couple of years now (in fact, most of the yard have now converted to them too!) It does take a bit of getting used to, dampening the bed to start with and so on, but its so easy to muck out etc. And I find a small child and a watering can solve the boredom of having to water your bed - they find it highly entertaining (Niece is used as slave labour for this very purpose!)

I use a watering can per bag of bedding as a guideline and tend to add the bedding in the morning and dampen it while my mare is out in the field all day, that way it's dry by the time she comes in.