Chicken run floor material

[Alagirl]

Doesn't make sense to me. Too bad. A missed opportunity for you but I hope you can find a free source of wood chips.

Although I have a smaller electric wood chipper (up to 1.5 inches) and a larger, more powerful gas chipper (up to 3 inches), I would not recommend investing in those wood chippers if you can find wood chips for free. I still use my wood chippers at home for lawn cleanup, but it takes a good amount of time to chip up wood at home. The people who sell you the chippers make it sound like it's no work at all. But I can load up my trailer full of free wood chips at the county landfill in 15 minutes that would take me about 10 hours of chipping wood at home.

Instead of chipping up my fallen branches, etc... lately I have been cutting them up with my recip saw or chainsaw and tossing them into my new hügelkultur raised garden beds. It's a better way for me to use up those branches then spending all that time chipping wood now that I have a source for free wood chips already chipped up. Sometimes I cut down a tree and have to burn out the stump. So, that is another good use of those branches. There are lots of ways to use up that wood and I have not hauled out any branches to the landfill in over 20 years. My goal is to keep and use all organic material on my property as best I can.

yeah, you have to have a really BIG one to get through a decent amount of work done.
Those little chippers are for clean yards. Like a roomba and swiffer are for clean houses.

I get you on using the sticks in different ways.
and I dig (LOL, not yet) the hill bed thing.

 

[gtaus]

yeah, you have to have a really BIG one to get through a decent amount of work done.
Those little chippers are for clean yards. Like a roomba and swiffer are for clean houses.

Well said, I can do lots of clean up in the yard, picking up fallen branches, and running them through a wood chipper, but it takes a lot longer than you would think. Small branches make even smaller quantities of wood chips. Before I found my free source for wood chips, I used my chippers a lot more. Now that I have access to free wood chips, I use the wood in my yard for other things.

Not only are home woodchippers rather expensive to buy, but you have to replace the chipping blades or have them sharpened, which costs money. My gas chipper needs periodic maintenance that I have to bring it into a professional shop, with professional repair bills. That's why I don't recommend buying a home chipper if you can find a free source of wood chips, like I did at our county landfill.

I have moved on to using paper shreds as deep bedding in the chicken coop which I make at home using our junk mail, newspapers, office paper, and light cardboard like cereal boxes, etc... I bought a few paper shredders at our local thrift store for less than $5.00 each and now I make all the coop bedding I need.

Paper shreds also compost much faster than wood chips. Wood chips will last longer in the chicken run if that is your goal.

 

[OChickenD]

Getting chickens for the first time.Making my first coop and run. Curious about best material for chicken run. I live in Pacific Northwest, plenty of rain in the winter. My run will be on grass in the back yard. Should I put sand or pine shavings directly on the grass? Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you!






this is a reply:
They will tear up the grass so add sand or whatever you want to the dirt. They do like sand and ashes with dirt to kill the mites. And don't have too many birds in a small run. They scratch and peck for food in dirt so there will be nothing left on the ground to eat in a couple days, which leads to boredom and feeling imprisoned. Happy chickens free range. And that leads to a whole set of new probs.

 

[Sellsouthfl]

Let the chickens have fun eating & scratching the grass. After they kill it, put wood chips on the ground in the run. Exception, if the run gets all soggy & muddy before the grass is gone, put wood chips on top of the grass.

By "wood chips," I mean the kind that are produced when companies cut brush & chip it up, or sold for mulch. They are bigger and much thicker than the pine shavings that are sold for chicken bedding. The bigger size pieces work much better in chicken runs.

You can also add dry leaves in the fall, and various other things that might otherwise go in a compost pile at any season. But having plenty of wood chips in the mix can really help with keeping mud and smells under control.

Well said, I can do lots of clean up in the yard, picking up fallen branches, and running them through a wood chipper, but it takes a lot longer than you would think. Small branches make even smaller quantities of wood chips. Before I found my free source for wood chips, I used my chippers a lot more. Now that I have access to free wood chips, I use the wood in my yard for other things.

Not only are home woodchippers rather expensive to buy, but you have to replace the chipping blades or have them sharpened, which costs money. My gas chipper needs periodic maintenance that I have to bring it into a professional shop, with professional repair bills. That's why I don't recommend buying a home chipper if you can find a free source of wood chips, like I did at our county landfill.

I have moved on to using paper shreds as deep bedding in the chicken coop which I make at home using our junk mail, newspapers, office paper, and light cardboard like cereal boxes, etc... I bought a few paper shredders at our local thrift store for less than $5.00 each and now I make all the coop bedding I need.

Paper shreds also compost much faster than wood chips. Wood chips will last longer in the chicken run if that is your goal.

You seem to be the wood chipping compost expert around here. One more question to add to the thread please-my coop is enclosed and off the ground. I have covered the plywood floor with peel and stick laminate sheets for easier periodic clean outs (and think I’ll have to drill a few holes in bottom for drainage). Will wood chips still work as a composting base in there? If not, what do you recommend for traction for their little feet that won’t need to be cleaned daily? I have access to free wood chips and I have an abundance of pine needles.

 

[NatJ]

You seem to be the wood chipping compost expert around here. One more question to add to the thread please-my coop is enclosed and off the ground. I have covered the plywood floor with peel and stick laminate sheets for easier periodic clean outs (and think I’ll have to drill a few holes in bottom for drainage). Will wood chips still work as a composting base in there? If not, what do you recommend for traction for their little feet that won’t need to be cleaned daily? I have access to free wood chips and I have an abundance of pine needles.

Wood chips can be fine for in-coop bedding too. Pine needles should also be fine there.

On a floor like you describe, they will not actually compost. But they will still be fine bedding, and the chickens can scratch them around so the droppings get buried regularly. If the chickens don't scratch them around enough, you can turn over a few bits with a pitchfork, or toss some scratch, and they will probably get to work. Or you can just toss more fresh bedding on top of the obvious droppings. This is most common under the roost.

It often works well to add more bedding on top as needed, and then clean it all out at intervals (maybe twice a year, maybe more or less than that.)

You might clean it out when it starts to fall out the door even with a board across the bottom of the opening, or when you step inside and hit your head on the roof. Or you might clean it out when you have a free day but you know the next few months will be really busy, or when the run is wet and needs more material there (putting ex-coop bedding in the run, and fresh bedding in the coop).

 

[gtaus]

my coop is enclosed and off the ground. I have covered the plywood floor with peel and stick laminate sheets for easier periodic clean outs (and think I’ll have to drill a few holes in bottom for drainage)

If you use dry deep bedding, then you don't need to drill any kind of drainage holes. The coop bedding should absorb all the chicken poo.

Will wood chips still work as a composting base in there? If not, what do you recommend for traction for their little feet that won’t need to be cleaned daily? I have access to free wood chips and I have an abundance of pine needles.

Since your coop is enclosed and off the ground, you are probably going to have a dry deep bedding system. A composting system (deep litter system) inside the coop needs to have lots of moisture to keep the litter at the consistency of a wrung-out sponge. I don't think you want that in your setup. To start your litter to compost inside the coop, you would have to add water and turn over the litter to encourage active composting.

I don't want to add any moisture to my dry deep bedding litter here in northern Minnesota because it would just freeze solid in our winters. Also, in your case, your peel and stick laminate sheets would probably start to lift off in no time if they get wet.

Wood chips and pine needles work great for bedding. If you can get them for free, then it's a great option. I used wood chips as dry deep bedding for my first two winters. It worked great. The last two winters I switched over to using paper shreds which I make at home with my office paper shredders. Free bedding is almost the best option in my book.

The advantage that paper shreds have over wood chips is that when you clean out the coop, the paper shreds will compost much faster than wood chips in the compost bin or your chicken run composting system. Also, when it is time to clean out the coop, paper shreds are much lighter to haul out.

It often works well to add more bedding on top as needed, and then clean it all out at intervals (maybe twice a year, maybe more or less than that.)

Because I live in northern Minnesota with long winters, I typically clean out my coop twice a year. In the late fall, before the snow falls, I clean out my coop and put down a fresh layer of paper shreds (or wood chips) of about 2 inches. Then, I add more fresh paper shreds on top of the old litter about twice a month. Just enough to keep everything looking good. I do this all winter long and by springtime, I might have as much as 10 inches of paper shreds in the coop. But my coop was designed to hold up to 12 inches of litter. If you don't have that much room for deep bedding, then you have to periodically take out some litter before you put in fresh bedding.

Chicken poo freezes hard as concrete in my winters. I don't clean out my coop until after the spring thaw. Then all the old litter/bedding gets tossed into the chicken run composting system. Twice a year cleaning is more than adequate to keep my coop looking good and not smelling bad. If you ever start to smell that chicken urine smell, then you need to either add more litter on top of the old, or clean out the coop. I have found that adding a thin layer of fresh bedding on top of the old bedding, about every two weeks, all winter long, keeps me ahead of any bad smells.

Where I live, in the freezing cold winters, there is basically no smell to frozen poo. So, I just add fresh paper shreds on top of the old. In the springtime, the poo thaws out and if I have enough paper shreds as bedding, the poo and urine usually gets absorbed into the shreds. Almost all the chicken poo is directly under the roosting bar, so if I ever have to take out any litter due to a smell, it will be under the roosting bar. But fortunately, I have been able to stay ahead of that situation with periodically adding more fresh bedding on top the of the old bedding.

Then chickens naturally freshen up the deep bedding with their normal scratching and pecking. If any area needs more attention, I'll toss some chicken scratch on that area and let the chickens go to work. When the chickens scratch and peck for food, any chicken poo will automagically disappear into the lower layers of the bedding. That is almost a perfect self-cleaning system. Twice a year coop clean out is all I need, and to be honest, I think I could go maybe once a year. But, converting coop bedding to compost for the garden is one the main reasons I have chickens, so I want to add that coop litter to my chicken run composting system at least twice a year.

 

[gimmie birdies]

I have not lived in wetstern WA in in over 30 years. I had a coop that could be moved around. My hen's loved the grass. We do have a mud season here (because of the snow) but it is usually in March.

 

[Sellsouthfl]

If you use dry deep bedding, then you don't need to drill any kind of drainage holes. The coop bedding should absorb all the chicken poo.



Since your coop is enclosed and off the ground, you are probably going to have a dry deep bedding system. A composting system (deep litter system) inside the coop needs to have lots of moisture to keep the litter at the consistency of a wrung-out sponge. I don't think you want that in your setup. To start your litter to compost inside the coop, you would have to add water and turn over the litter to encourage active composting.

I don't want to add any moisture to my dry deep bedding litter here in northern Minnesota because it would just freeze solid in our winters. Also, in your case, your peel and stick laminate sheets would probably start to lift off in no time if they get wet.

Wood chips and pine needles work great for bedding. If you can get them for free, then it's a great option. I used wood chips as dry deep bedding for my first two winters. It worked great. The last two winters I switched over to using paper shreds which I make at home with my office paper shredders. Free bedding is almost the best option in my book.

The advantage that paper shreds have over wood chips is that when you clean out the coop, the paper shreds will compost much faster than wood chips in the compost bin or your chicken run composting system. Also, when it is time to clean out the coop, paper shreds are much lighter to haul out.



Because I live in northern Minnesota with long winters, I typically clean out my coop twice a year. In the late fall, before the snow falls, I clean out my coop and put down a fresh layer of paper shreds (or wood chips) of about 2 inches. Then, I add more fresh paper shreds on top of the old litter about twice a month. Just enough to keep everything looking good. I do this all winter long and by springtime, I might have as much as 10 inches of paper shreds in the coop. But my coop was designed to hold up to 12 inches of litter. If you don't have that much room for deep bedding, then you have to periodically take out some litter before you put in fresh bedding.

Chicken poo freezes hard as concrete in my winters. I don't clean out my coop until after the spring thaw. Then all the old litter/bedding gets tossed into the chicken run composting system. Twice a year cleaning is more than adequate to keep my coop looking good and not smelling bad. If you ever start to smell that chicken urine smell, then you need to either add more litter on top of the old, or clean out the coop. I have found that adding a thin layer of fresh bedding on top of the old bedding, about every two weeks, all winter long, keeps me ahead of any bad smells.

Where I live, in the freezing cold winters, there is basically no smell to frozen poo. So, I just add fresh paper shreds on top of the old. In the springtime, the poo thaws out and if I have enough paper shreds as bedding, the poo and urine usually gets absorbed into the shreds. Almost all the chicken poo is directly under the roosting bar, so if I ever have to take out any litter due to a smell, it will be under the roosting bar. But fortunately, I have been able to stay ahead of that situation with periodically adding more fresh bedding on top the of the old bedding.

Then chickens naturally freshen up the deep bedding with their normal scratching and pecking. If any area needs more attention, I'll toss some chicken scratch on that area and let the chickens go to work. When the chickens scratch and peck for food, any chicken poo will automagically disappear into the lower layers of the bedding. That is almost a perfect self-cleaning system. Twice a year coop clean out is all I need, and to be honest, I think I could go maybe once a year. But, converting coop bedding to compost for the garden is one the main reasons I have chickens, so I want to add that coop litter to my chicken run composting system at least twice a year.

Such helpful info! Thanks all! One more silly question: putting scratch on top of the bedding to encourage them to dig doesn’t increase illness? Eating on top of poop piles?

 

[Folly's place]

Digging in dirt to get grub is what they do, so digging in bedding is normal behavior, good for them.
Having fecal samples run at your veterinarian's is good practice, done occasionally. Birds at some properties will have few intestinal parasites, while others will need worming often.
Mary

 

[Sellsouthfl]

Digging in dirt to get grub is what they do, so digging in bedding is normal behavior, good for them.
Having fecal samples run at your veterinarian's is good practice, done occasionally. Birds at some properties will have few intestinal parasites, while others will need worming often.
Mary

Is it safe to assume that one fecal sample is enough for the whole flock because if one has worms they all have worms?