- Aug 16, 2018
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After our chickens ate the grass down in their enclosed yard we added about 2-3 inches of pea gravel, then topped it off with 2-3 inches of All-Purpose sand. This really reduced the nasty poopy feet, helped the drainage, and I can rake up big messes. But so far the rain dissolves most poop. Of course this winter the poop will freeze, so I can sift it out if need be. This summer I plan to add DE to it as well.View attachment 1632766 View attachment 1632765
We received our new (bigger) coop a couple of weeks ago. I have an area under the roosts that is sand and PDZ, not quite 4:1 - I’ll need to mix in more PDZ. Next I time I go to TSC I’ll get more PDZ (it’s about 45 min away). I have been sifting it every day - works well! The other area of the coop is pine shavings that I try to sift thru and will replace every 2 weeks or so. We will be adding more ventilation up top now that we have our final setup. We do have the gable end vents at the peak on both ends of the enclosed area. They are approx 15”x6” each
The run area is 7’x18’ - and mostly covered (see pic) - grass is pretty much gone now. Recommendations on what to put in the run area to keep the poop under control? Raking it is barely working! Starting to stink in there! And they have poop on their feet (that freaks me out!).
Working on more roosts in the pen (have a swing that is not in this photo) - they aren’t too keen on it because it moves. Eventually we’ll have a fenced in area around this coop for them to get out - but that will probably be a spring project unless we get some decent (rain free) weather here in S.E. PA.