Things You Wish You Would Have Known?

[5Sons Coop]

I know there are people who use it or wood stove pellets in the coop. I saw it when I was researching my options.

We have used them for the horses when on the road and could not find anything else. I tried them briefly in a coop with some Cornish X and I was scared they were eating it. They work well on non-robo chickens, but are so costly. Hardwood planer shaving from a cabinet manufacturer are my favorite. They are so dry they soak up a lot. You can pack a lot in your old feed bags.

 

[harley587]

We have used them for the horses when on the road and could not find anything else. I tried them briefly in a coop with some Cornish X and I was scared they were eating it. They work well on non-robo chickens, but are so costly. Hardwood planer shaving from a cabinet manufacturer are my favorite. They are so dry they soak up a lot. You can pack a lot in your old feed bags.

I never thought about hard wood planer shavings! Right know we just use straw and clean weekly.

 

[Beer can]

I use the deep litter method in my coops. Add free sawdust in the spring from cutting our own firewood, and add free dry tree leaves in the fall, have a unlimited supply of them.

 

[saulsx]

Build your coop (or have SOLID plans for size, cost, etc) BEFORE you get your chicks.

I haven't read through all the posts, but this is what we're experiencing now. Wish we'd built BEFORE we got chicks. We had plans drawn up, and most all the materials and hardware we needed thinking we'd get it built in a few of days. We'd been talking about it, researching, and planning for a while, and went ahead and bought chicks before we started building. Between work, life, changing our plans because what we'd drawn up didn't work as well as we'd thought, and mother nature, we're on week 2 of trying to get our tractor built. The chicks are ready to be outside!

 

[Shezadandy]

Has anyone tried this stuff in a chicken coop?

Absolutely. From the start. It works great. I still use Sweet PDZ on my roosting tables (see below) and of course straw in the nest boxes, but the whole coop floor is pellets. They can be sprayed lightly with a hose if you want them to soften up a bit without damage. Eventually they break down fine enough to make dust bathing material inside. It's actually kinda fun to watch a chicken poop on them and see the pellets soak the vile liquid right up. (weird, yes, too much time with chickens) ... best part is the chickens scratch it up, mix it up, the bedding air dries, then it's ready to absorb again.

 

[JaeG]

Just to chime in, if you can get coffee chaff it's fantastic in the coop. It is so light and airy the poop just disappears into this soft bed of chaff. You'd never know chickens slept in there and no poop is tracked into the nesting boxes. It's no good in the nest boxes as it sticks to the bloom on the egg before it dries, staining it brown wherever it sticks (though this is purely cosmetic). Because it's so light the wind can blow it out if it happens to be blowing the wrong way, and it's no good anywhere it's going to get wet but it's fabulous in the coop.

 

[5Sons Coop]

I use the deep litter method in my coops. Add free sawdust in the spring from cutting our own firewood, and add free dry tree leaves in the fall, have a unlimited supply of them.

I had deep litter in my runs until this summer. It has been a very wet year so far and I had a mess so I cleaned it out and loaded up the garden. It did work well until all this rain.

 

[lazy gardener]

My DL in the run has been wet also, with the rain, but as soon as the sun comes out, the top layer dries out nicely. I love to see the black humus underneath when the girls go mining for tidbits and bugs. Can't wait to harvest some this fall or in the spring. My run has a gentle slope. I dump all of the additions in at the top, and it doesn't take long before the girls have transported it to the bottom. (run is 500 s.f.) I figure that by the time it gets to the bottom, it has been rotated about 100 times! Eventually, I plan to put an other people door at the bottom end of the run so I can easily harvest compost there. My garden is less than 50' away with a cattle panel fence. So, when the time comes, it will be easy to remove a couple of spirals that connect the panels, remove one panel, and feed the garden. One nice thing to add to the DL in the run is wood chips from a landscaping company. They make a nice bed of larger particles to help things dry out better.

 

[Lisa Wood]

I haven't read through all the posts, but this is what we're experiencing now. Wish we'd built BEFORE we got chicks. We had plans drawn up, and most all the materials and hardware we needed thinking we'd get it built in a few of days. We'd been talking about it, researching, and planning for a while, and went ahead and bought chicks before we started building. Between work, life, changing our plans because what we'd drawn up didn't work as well as we'd thought, and mother nature, we're on week 2 of trying to get our tractor built. The chicks are ready to be outside!

Oh My! I dont know about you, but there was a time when I let my husband know finishing the coop was urgent! I started thinking they were BIRDS instead of cute little chicks at two weeks old. At week three, it was urgent!
Pooping in water. Escaping brooder, pooping while trying to escape ex pen around brooder, eating like starving vultures, looking at me when I walk in cause I am the FOOD person, running FAST, sitting on a sleeping sisters head, etc. Oh my! The instruction manuel said in the brooder in the house 6-8 weeks. I was actually thinking of doing some cooking!?
Now the darlings are in the coop, but get rammy if they dont get out, which requires chick supervision for a few reasons. They are so much fun, we are already planning an annex to the coop!
Lisa

 

[Hens rule]

I wish I had known about chickens and poison ivy. My chickens walk threw it and i touch them resulting in poison ivy hands.