I bought two bales of straw at the Tractor Supply in Seguin three years back and figured I was set for life on cheap bedding. By the second month the coop smelled like a barn fire and the straw was matting into these wet slabs I had to pry off the floor with a pitchfork. I finally tried shavings last fall and I was wrong about them being the pricey choice, because I was buying straw twice as often and still fighting the smell. A bale of shavings fluffs up so much more than it looks like it will, and the wet spots scoop out easy instead of turning into a soggy mess. Straw is a trap, you called it right.

Count the falling asleep time. I set my alarm for 25 minutes so I get a few minutes to drift and still land around 20 of actual sleep. Hitting that light sleep window is the whole game, once you drop into deep sleep past 30 minutes the grogginess is brutal.