On Bedding and Cleaning

[Mrs. K]

I use old waste hay from the cattle bedding and do not have any problem with it. I do flip it occasionally, and rake it up in hay stacks, then when it snows, I flip it out on top of the snow. In a post ^^ some mentioned a shelter in the run, I too, have one and think it really helps.

 

[aart]

I sorta have the same question as everyone else. I am wondering how you keep a large run dry, My (covered/enclosed) run is 16'x6' I use deep liter, no problems there. My outside run is 56'x25' what should I put down on the ground to help keep it dry? It was grass but now it is looking like the moon.
would sawdust work? I'm look for an inexpensive way, what is best
thank you

do you think hay from barn bedding would be ok to put in the run? or will it stay to wet?
thank you

Your best bet for an uncovered area is to make sure it drains really well... absorbent materials will just hold water. You want the ground level to be slightly higher than the ground around it, or sloped slightly so water drains off, and generally just out of the way of other types of runoff. You could add in some quick-draining footing (coarse sand) to help the dirt dry out faster, but it will not help if the area is low and collecting water anyway.

......and then just basically use the same stuff as you do in your deep litter, any decent MIX of stuff will work fine.

 

[farmmanjim]

We use pine flakes for years in nest and floor and poop boards. We hand clean the nest boxes and clean the poop boards about twice a month. With poop boards the floor stays really clean and we clean and change the flakes about twice a year. Get the regular flakes and not the fine. The chickens tend to swallow some of the fine because it is so small and could clog the crop. The girls love it

 

[junkman56]

Hay, is very scratchy, and I do find that straw wicks up moisture and gets slimy/moldy, if piled to high. I do throw some around in a thin layer though, especially for my ducks who tend to nest on the ground.

Your best bet for an uncovered area is to make sure it drains really well... absorbent materials will just hold water. You want the ground level to be slightly higher than the ground around it, or sloped slightly so water drains off, and generally just out of the way of other types of runoff. You could add in some quick-draining footing (coarse sand) to help the dirt dry out faster, but it will not help if the area is low and collecting water anyway.

thank you for your responces

 

[ShannonMarie]

Lots of good info. I use lots of pine shavings in my coop and i change it every ten days. We have tray under the shavings so the way my hubby designed the coop the trays slide out and i dump and clean them. I also use a wet dry vac to get anything that doesn't make it on my trays. I live in Arizona and it is 90 degrees here right now so i don't want the flies in my backyard more than i already do so that is why i clean it every ten days or sooner if needed. Our chicken free roam most of the day and only go in their run when no one is home. They are about 11 weeks old and we have already had to trim wing feathers! They they to jump and ended up on the roof of our tortoises house and they could actually jump on to the wall from that so we will be keep them trimmed. Good luck

 

[farmmanjim]

I'm researching the best bedding and decided to get Pine shavings. My questions are: Do I lay it on thick inside the house and laying areas? (9 total roosting 4 - 6 month old mixed NN frizzle and turkins). No one is actually laying yet. Do I spread the shavings in the run areas as well?
I've spot cleaned their straw daily, is that something most do or am I working too hard? lol
Their waterer is a 5 gallon bucket with nipples, and a tight fitting lid. I change the water every other day, am I overdoing that? ALSO, that waterer is outside in the run as I've seen it dripping non stop from a stuck nipple, AND, I only have 1-2 gallons of water in it max. I guess I'm looking for a good maintenance routine for cleanliness. Their house is very Large. It's actually on top of our storm shelter which is the size of a studio apartment. Half that, we use the other half, blocked off for yard equipment. Their floor is concrete covered with lots of straw. Their house stays very dry, but the run areas stay soaked and muddy now for all the rain and storms. Should I add some sort of sand box inside? There is room for a small one and what should I use for the sand? Cat litter? sand?
Lots of questions. Thank you all in advance.

Hmm... ok, no shavings in the yard. The house stays dry, under the roosts, the laying areas, all indoors... BIG space. The run... muddy now... what would you do. We have tarps up so it's not raining ON them, but the ground is soaked from all the rains and storms with no signs of letting up for quite a while. SPRING is quite wet in SE oKLAHOMA

Hmm... ok, no shavings in the yard. The house stays dry, under the roosts, the laying areas, all indoors... BIG space. The run... muddy now... what would you do. We have tarps up so it's not raining ON them, but the ground is soaked from all the rains and storms with no signs of letting up for quite a while. SPRING is quite wet in SE oKLAHOMA

 

[farmmanjim]

When I clean the flakes out the house twice a year, I put then in the pen. Helps eliminate so much mud since the dig all the time. They love digging under them for hiding bugs and worms. I put the cleaning from the poop boards in a mulch pile during the summer and use them everywhere. They fertilize and loosen soil. In fall and winter, all poop board flakes go in the garden.

 

[Starwise]

I use pine shavings in the coop. Considering poop boards but so far been replacing the bedding under the roosts every couple weeks so maybe not... maybe with the young chicks added to the flock. Our local Cenex sells two kinds of pine shavings, the coarser (12 cubic ft bag) is great for the floor and the finer (10 cubic ft bag) stuff is more like what you get from hand planing and I use that for the nests. So far the girls like it.
For the outside run I spread some coarse sand but the soil is already very well draining and didn't see a reason to add too much to it.

 

[Gorman Farm]

We use sand on the coop floor, and fine shavings in the nesting boxes. There are usually some shavings that make it to the coop floor. In the beginning we used shavings on the floor but we then stripped out all the bedding every 2-3 weeks, it was a pretty big chore since our coop is fairly large. The sand is working great. We only strip it 2 x a year and I use a cat scoop to clean up a little now and then.

 

[seadrift]

I'm researching the best bedding and decided to get Pine shavings. My questions are: Do I lay it on thick inside the house and laying areas? (9 total roosting 4 - 6 month old mixed NN frizzle and turkins). No one is actually laying yet. Do I spread the shavings in the run areas as well?
I've spot cleaned their straw daily, is that something most do or am I working too hard? lol
Their waterer is a 5 gallon bucket with nipples, and a tight fitting lid. I change the water every other day, am I overdoing that? ALSO, that waterer is outside in the run as I've seen it dripping non stop from a stuck nipple, AND, I only have 1-2 gallons of water in it max. I guess I'm looking for a good maintenance routine for cleanliness. Their house is very Large. It's actually on top of our storm shelter which is the size of a studio apartment. Half that, we use the other half, blocked off for yard equipment. Their floor is concrete covered with lots of straw. Their house stays very dry, but the run areas stay soaked and muddy now for all the rain and storms. Should I add some sort of sand box inside? There is room for a small one and what should I use for the sand? Cat litter? sand?
Lots of questions. Thank you all in advance.

I use deep cedar shavings in the outside run and even if it rains, the chickens scratching in them has them dry in a day or two. Very absorbent and only need changed every couple months or so depending on the weather. Sooner if it has rained a lot. Then they go to the garden (shavings, chicken poop, DE, and whatever grass clippings weren't eaten) for mulch to mix in, or as bedding around plantings and to keep weeds down.
My outdoor pen is approx. 18'X20' with 10 hens and 1 rooster.
In the roosting and nesting area above, I use fine pine shavings that act like kitty litter, to absorb all waste. I clean out the clumps everyday and keep adding DE to the bedding on a regular basis. No lice or mites whatsoever!