I have a similar setup to blackdog043 it drains well and has no smell.
I roto-tilled the soil to at least 12” deep and mixed in pine shavings, hay, leaves, pine needles/cones, grass clippings, and whatever yard/compostable materials I could.
I love how low maintenance free this setup is...
I put up plastic drop cloth on the two weather prone sides of the run to keep the blowing snow/rain from blowing into the run. Plus it also has a green house type of affect with heat.
I use a deep litter/compost in both my coop and run, which consists of what ever yard waste/composable material I collect.
During winter I throw a bale of grass hay in the run. Living in North Idaho I’m sure my winters are pretty similar to yours in Montana.
The composting litter does put...
I have a 6’x8’ coop with an attached 12’x8’ run with 12 hens. While I don’t think they are crowded I wouldn’t want to squeeze any more birds into there.
Break up and aerate the ground, at least 8” deep, and mix in wood chips, grass clippings, pine shavings, grass hay, veggie scraps, leaves and whatever other compostable material you have into the soil. It will keep your chickens busy and happy and will give you great fertilizer next year.
My...
I use the deep litter method in my coop and run. We’ve had a lot of snow on Northern Idaho this winter. And even though my coop and run are covered the deep litter is still kinda wet in the run.
I’m on my second bale of grass hay this winter which I spread across the top of the deep litter...
Thanks all!
Kinda silly how excited I am over this...... but then again, I am posting about on a chicken blog....... :confused: words I thought would never come out of my mouth!
This is the first chicken coop that I’ve ever built and I used no plans, just the vision in my head! I did draw my vision on some graph paper and off to buy lumber I went.
The reality is it took three times as long as I expected to build and cost twice as much as I originally estimated.
The...