Update on GROUNDS Coffee Ground Bedding for your coop!

[BlueBaby]

What use have you been drying your coffee grounds for? @humblehillsfarm has been using hers for scoop litter method (made that term up), where I've been just tossing wet grounds into my run/coop and letting the chicks toss them around and dry in the heat.

Just to be able to get them off of the filter. I fill up an empty coffee can with them, and then dump them all over the yard. I do't free-range my chicken's though.

 

[drinkoj]

Just to be able to get them off of the filter. I fill up an empty coffee can with them, and then dump them all over the yard. I do't free-range my chicken's though.

LOL! Yeah, I scraped the grounds off the filters at first and into a waste bag of shredded paper to absorb the water at first. Then I said to heck with that and just took the coffee can that my co-workers put them into for me and chucked everything in their run (no free range also). The ladies scratch at the filters a little, knocking the grounds all over the place and causes them to dry out pretty quickly. Then I just go in during my nightly food check and find the filters on top and tear them up so they decompose better.

 

[drinkoj]

Just to be able to get them off of the filter. I fill up an empty coffee can with them, and then dump them all over the yard. I do't free-range my chicken's though.

Glad you found a new use.

 

[NatJ]

wouldn't coffee grounds be bad for them if they eat it?

IF they eat it, maybe. But chickens are fairly good at taking a bite or two and deciding it's not really good to eat.

Plenty of people use shavings or sawdust or sand, and it's not good for chickens to eat large amounts of those either.

 

[LaFleche]

What about the eggs, did you notice any difference in taste or smell?

I suppose their feet will get pretty dark with all the coffee staining and white chickens might just turn into coffee coloured.

 

[fowlosophy]

Toward the end of February this year I picked up 3 bags of grounds coffee ground bedding from Tractor Supply and immediately fell in love. With three bags I had a roughly 4" layer in my 4x6' chicken coop. My coop smelled wonderful and the grounds were so light weight and compostable. The very best part though is the scoopability of the coffee grounds. Fast forward to today, roughly five months later, and the litter is largely poop-free as I am able to scoop it daily. It hasn't broken down into dust as wood chips do after a couple of months. It doesn't smell, isn't moldy (but I don't leave water in the coop either). The downside is this bedding as disappeared off the shelves of TSC. You can view product info at poweredbycoffee.com but sadly, they now only ship locally within 25 miles of Indianapolis. I contacted the company directly and received a response. They said they are hoping to be back in TSC by the fall, but that's not soon enough! I have been saving my own coffee and drying it to replenish what is lost, but within the last month I've finally decided I really need more. I hate the thought of switching back to pine, and I don't want to use sand at all. It is too heavy and too difficult to find dust-free sand. It also isn't compostable.

What to do? I called the Starbucks located next to my work office and they said they'll give me a huge box for free. I am picking it up today at lunch and plan on spreading the grounds on a tarp in the sun to facilitate drying. I am only nervous that they use a fine grind, but we shall see. I'll update if it works. If this is successful, this will mean a free source of bedding that is recycled, compostable, smells fantastic, scoopable, longer lasting. I really can't see any downsides!

Thanks for keeping us updated on your experience with this. I was also curious about it when I saw the bags at Tractor Supply. I currently use hemp in my coop and I love it, but I've been keeping my eye out for alternatives if the hemp becomes unavailable or uneconomical.

I'd be interested to know how long it takes to dry it out in the sun? I'm also wondering about how you'd dry it out in winter (freezing temps)? Do you think spreading it out on pans and baking it at a low temp in the oven would work? I have a pretty big dehydrator, but I'm guessing I'd have to run a lot of batches through to get enough to initially fill the coop?

Also, given what you said about how well this is working in the coop, I wonder how coffee grounds would work as an alternative to cat litter?

Thanks again for the update & best wishes with your Starbucks haul!!

 

[NatJ]

To dry the grounds: maybe just add a very thin layer to the coop each day, so they can dry in place?

 

[Mamatomany123]

What about the eggs, did you notice any difference in taste or smell?

I suppose their feet will get pretty dark with all the coffee staining and white chickens might just turn into coffee coloured.

I havent noticed any difference with the eggs but I dont have coffee grounds in the nesting boxes. Only on the poop board. My babies have lighter feet and I havent noticed any discoloration but again, I only use them on the poop boards.

 

[humblehillsfarm]

UPDATE: They had told me to call before I arrive so they can have it ready to load in my car but when I went at lunch the line was busy each time I called. I had called several times during a 20 minute period but my lunch was over so I was going to try again when I left for work.

wouldn't coffee grounds be bad for them if they eat it?

Coffee grounds won't harm chickens. I actually dropped a full feed bucket the other day right on the grounds. I picked up what wasn't touching the grounds but obviously a ton got left behind. I was amazed to watch the accuracy of the chickens picking crumble out of the coffee and it appeared they didn’t eat any of the grounds.

What about the eggs, did you notice any difference in taste or smell?

I suppose their feet will get pretty dark with all the coffee staining and white chickens might just turn into coffee coloured.

The coffee is used so even if soaked in water the discoloring of the water would be minimal as would the caffeine content. The dry grounds wouldn't stain their feet at all. Because the chickens don't consume the coffee, there is no impact on egg flavor.

I'd be interested to know how long it takes to dry it out in the sun? I'm also wondering about how you'd dry it out in winter (freezing temps)? Do you think spreading it out on pans and baking it at a low temp in the oven would work? I have a pretty big dehydrator, but I'm guessing I'd have to run a lot of batches through to get enough to initially fill the coop?

Also, given what you said about how well this is working in the coop, I wonder how coffee grounds would work as an alternative to cat litter?

Thanks again for the update & best wishes with your Starbucks haul!!

When I dry my own I literally dump them on a plate on my kitchen, give them a little stir that evening, and by the next day they are dry. I imagine in the sun, spread in a single layer and stirred once or twice during the day, they would dry very quickly. I can't speak for how winter will work but up until December and starting in March there is usually a decently sunny and warm day. I would probably try to dry a bunch and store it to tide me over.

I doubt it would make good cat litter because it won't clump at all. I briefly had chicks with water in there and the water would run like a small river underneath the coffee grounds and out the door of the coop. I also found that the grounds would mold when wet and not stirred to dry, but aside from that brief period I never keep water in the

To dry the grounds: maybe just add a very thin layer to the coop each day, so they can dry in place?

I'm not sure I'd do that because I am pretty hard core about keeping moisture out of my coop. I did find that when wet and not stirred, the grounds molded. If you kept them stirred with a fan, that would still keep the humidity very high in the coop which in turn can make it feel hotter, or at least I would think so. It's pretty humid where I live!

 

[humblehillsfarm]

Another update: I called again and the call went through. Apparently no one saved the grounds for the day but I spoke with a manager and she arranged things, took down my contact info, and I said I'd come by tomorrow evening.