Pine vs Cedar Shavings as Poultry Litter - PoultryHelp.com

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This is a question and answer from our Poultry Help Line Message Board - 03 September 2003

QUESTION:
Not too long ago, I ran out of pine wood chips, and my feed store was closed. So I went to Wal-Mart for pine wood chips, and they had no more, only cedar. Ever since I got those wood chips I had two, 5 week old chicks die, and my other seven chickens have some weird bumbs on their combs, ear lobes, beaks, eye lids, and/or wattles. The only things that I could think of were fowl pox, or the cedar. Any suggestions will be appreciated. Thanks

ANSWER:
First of all, many people use cedar shavings and have no problems, but we use only Pine Shavings.
Cedar shavings/chips give off 'fumes' that may KILL SOME POULTRY PARASITES, but they are also toxic to chickens. By themselves, they may not cause problems, but they may affect the chickens respiratory system enough to stress them and make them more susceptible to other diseases that may be around.

We have several documents on our Poultry Diseases Help page that deal with fowl pox.

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