I tried it once, but my chickens kept eating it. The gal at the feed store told me that they try all the nesting material and eventually they would quit. I'm not worried about them coming in to contact with it, but I don't want them eating a lot. It might be worth a try and watch to see how much they consume.

At this point we don't even have a shredder, but we really should be shredding our mail.  I might try it and see what happens.

I've never thought about using the paper shed for the hens, but I have at times used it as a layer in the compost pile and as fire starter in the fire place. I would be concerned about the dyes used if the hens are going to eat some of it. Even if the hens are ok does that leave the eggs ok? My thoughts are that newspaper shed would be the safer choice as most papers have gone to vegetable dyes. That's what I plan to whelp puppies on to make for an easier cleanup and I have a ready supply coming in all the time. Good thought for the recycle, reuse mindset.