Pine chips and pine shavings are generally safe for chickens and are one of the most widely recommended bedding materials for coops and brooders. However, the form of pine you use, how it’s processed, and the age of your birds all matter. Getting these details right is the difference between a healthy coop and one that causes respiratory or digestive problems.
Pine Chips vs. Pine Shavings
When people search for “pine chips,” they’re often thinking of either the large wood chips used in landscaping or the bagged pine shavings sold at feed stores. These are not interchangeable. Pine shavings are thin, curled pieces of wood that absorb moisture well, control odor, and break down at a manageable rate. Large pine chips, the kind you’d spread in a garden bed, absorb less moisture and can harbor bacteria underneath if the coop stays damp. They also don’t compact as evenly, which can make cleaning more difficult.
For most coop setups, pine shavings are the better choice. They soak up droppings efficiently, keep dust levels relatively low, and are widely available at farm supply stores. If you do use pine chips in a run (the outdoor area), they work fine as a ground cover since drainage is less of a concern outdoors. Inside the coop, stick with shavings.
What Makes Pine a Good Bedding
Pine shavings offer a practical combination of absorbency, odor control, and availability. The natural compounds in pine wood have mild antibacterial properties, and the familiar scent helps mask ammonia from droppings. Ammonia buildup is one of the biggest respiratory threats in a chicken coop, so a bedding that absorbs moisture and controls smell pulls double duty.
Pine also works well for the deep litter method, where you layer fresh bedding on top of old material and let beneficial microbes break it down over time. Pine shavings decompose more slowly than grass clippings or leaves, which is actually an advantage. They maintain loft and airflow in the litter longer, giving the composting process time to work without turning into a soggy mat. Once cleaned out, the spent litter makes excellent garden compost.
The Phenol Question
Pine and other softwoods release volatile compounds, including aromatic hydrocarbons and phenols, that give them their distinctive smell. These compounds have been flagged as a potential health concern, particularly for respiratory irritation and changes in liver enzyme activity. Studies in laboratory animals housed on softwood bedding showed measurable shifts in liver enzymes, which can affect how the body processes certain drugs and anesthetics.
In practice, this risk is much more relevant to cedar than to pine. Cedar contains significantly higher concentrations of these volatile oils, which is why most poultry guides explicitly warn against using cedar shavings. Pine’s phenol levels are considerably lower, and kiln-dried pine shavings have had much of the volatile content baked off during processing. If you want to minimize exposure further, look for bags labeled “kiln-dried pine” rather than air-dried or fresh-cut products. Good coop ventilation also goes a long way toward dispersing any residual compounds before they accumulate to problematic levels.
Pine Bedding for Baby Chicks
Large pine shavings are safe and commonly recommended for brooders. The University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service specifically names large pine shavings as good bedding for baby chicks. The key word is “large.” Small shavings and sawdust pose a real danger because chicks that are still learning to eat will peck at and swallow tiny pieces of bedding, which can cause crop impaction and increased mortality.
For the first day or two, some keepers lay paper towels over the shavings so chicks learn to find their feed without confusing bedding for food. After they’ve figured out where the feeder is, you can remove the paper towels and let them walk directly on the shavings. Avoid sand and cedar in brooders entirely.
Treated vs. Untreated Pine
This distinction is critical and easy to overlook if you’re sourcing pine chips from a tree service or lumber supplier rather than buying bagged shavings. Pressure-treated pine lumber has been infused with chemical preservatives to resist rot and insects. Older treated wood used chromated copper arsenate (CCA), which contains arsenic that leaches into soil and is toxic on contact or when inhaled as dust. Newer treatments use different copper-based compounds, but none of them belong anywhere near your flock.
Only use untreated, natural pine in your coop and run. If you’re getting free wood chips from a local tree service or a chip drop program, confirm the wood type and make sure no treated lumber was mixed in. Painted, stained, or chemically preserved wood of any kind should be kept out of areas where chickens eat, scratch, or sleep.
Does Pine Repel Mites or Lice?
Some poultry keepers have wondered whether the natural oils in pine help ward off external parasites like red mites and lice. Pine oil is an active ingredient in certain commercial pest control products, which fuels this idea. In practice, however, the concentration of pine oil in standard shavings is far too low to act as an effective repellent. Plenty of chicken keepers who use pine shavings still deal with mite and lice infestations.
Treat pine bedding as a comfortable, absorbent substrate for your birds, not a pest prevention strategy. Regular coop cleaning, dust bathing areas, and targeted parasite treatments when needed are far more reliable approaches to keeping mites and lice under control.
Keeping Pine Bedding Safe Long-Term
The bedding itself is only as safe as the conditions you maintain around it. A few practical guidelines keep pine shavings working well:
- Moisture control: Wet bedding breeds bacteria, mold, and fungi regardless of the material. Spot-clean around waterers and replace damp patches promptly.
- Dust levels: Some bags of shavings are dustier than others. If you open a bale and a cloud of fine particles rises, shake it out outdoors before spreading it in the coop. Dusty bedding irritates chicken lungs and yours.
- Ventilation: Even the best bedding can’t compensate for a poorly ventilated coop. Airflow near the roofline carries ammonia, moisture, and volatile compounds out before they concentrate at bird level.
- Depth: A layer of 3 to 4 inches gives enough absorbency to stay dry between cleanings. For the deep litter method, you’ll build up to 6 inches or more over time, stirring periodically to keep the composting process active.
Pine shavings are one of the most forgiving bedding options available. They’re affordable, easy to find, compostable, and safe for chickens of all ages when sourced and managed correctly. The main things to avoid are cedar (too many volatile oils), sawdust or fine shavings for young chicks (ingestion risk), and any wood that has been chemically treated.