These bedding is exactly as promised. I use a kitty litter scooper to clean our nesting boxes and it's very easy. The size of the individual pieces slips right through my scoop, leaving only the poo from my chickens. It's very soft on their feet, doesn't poke like straw does, and creates significantly LESS dust in the coop.My ONLY complaint is the price as it's quite a bit more expensive when compared to pine flakes and/or shavings.
We recently switched to RentACoop Hemp Bedding after using sand for a while. While sand was easy to clean, the dust it created became a real issue for us and the chickens. Hemp bedding has been a breath of fresh air—literally! It's super absorbent, and the coop stays dry and fresh for much longer than it did with sand. The odor control is fantastic, too, which means no more frequent cleanings to keep the smell down.One of the best parts is that this product was one of the more reasonably priced options we found. Despite the great quality, it’s affordable, which is a huge plus! The hemp fibers are also smaller in size, making it surprisingly easy to clean with a litter scoop—just as easy as sand, but without all the dust.The bedding is soft and natural, and my chickens seem to love scratching around in it. I also appreciate how eco-friendly it is—it's fully compostable and breaks down perfectly, which has been great for our garden too!Switching to RentACoop Hemp Bedding was the best decision. It’s dust-free, easy to maintain, and keeps the coop fresher for longer. Highly recommended for anyone looking for a cleaner, healthier coop at a reasonable price!
I’ve always used pine shavings with baby chicks, but it gets smelly so quickly, so I tried this as something new. The odor control with the hemp is really great. I currently have eight 5-week-old chicks in the brooder and I only have to change the bedding every 6-7 days for the smell. It is soft bedding and seems safe (I’ve been using it for 3 weeks), and you do get a lot of bedding that goes a long way. But the DUST is crazy. It’s way worse than the pine shavings. Because of the high cost of the hemp, combined with the incredible amount of dust, I probably won’t buy it again. I’ll use shavings and change out bedding more often.
My chicks love it! First time raising chicks, and I started out with another brand of natural hemp bedding from the pet store because it came in a smaller bag and I wasn't sure how much I would need (turns out you need a lot and will go through it fast lol). The other pet bedding was ok, my little baby chicks dug around in it, I thought it was fine. But once I ran through the bag and replaced it with the RentACoop Extra-soft premium hemp Bedding the difference was obvious. As soon as I returned my chicks to the brooder they literally started nesting in it. Not just digging but nuzzling themselves into it like happy little hens in training. It was so cute and I felt so bad for not providing them with the good stuff from the start. It absolutely does feel softer, and functions better as "litter" in terms of covering their little droppings too. Highly recommend!
The product is expensive, but when I calculate how long I have heard it will last compared to pine shavings or chopped straw, the price is just about the same since the hemp does not need changing as frequently. I have been using it for about 3 months now, others have used it for a year with the original litter in place.So far, there is zero smell after 3 months of use by 10 chickens who are in the coop at least part of every day at this time of year. No ammonia smell accumulates and it stays dry even though my coop is on soil and we have had lots of rain. With other litters, I've had to add products such as sweet PDZ in order to keep odor under control. So far, I have added nothing to the hemp and don't need to. The droppings dry out right away.I like that it stays put and does not fly around getting into the feeders and waterers. Nor does it migrate into the dust bath area. My chickens seem to like it just fine too. I have 3 large bags of the product on an 8'x12' area of my coop (The rest is sand under the roost bars and a large sand area for dust bathing). I may add a 4th bag eventually because I like the litter to be deep but there does not seem to be any need at present.I hope that as more hemp is grown in the US that the price will come down, but if it does indeed last a year or more, I'm happy with that!UPDATE AFTER 11 MONTHS: The original hemp bedding is still in the coop. I added another bag and it's all still in good shape. No odor, continues to stay dry despite some very rainy weather. I do clean up obvious droppings at the end of each day, but there is plenty more absorbed into the litter. I am buying a couple more bags because it's been in place a year and I like litter to be fresh, but will add them on top of the old litter which there is no reason to discard.