A few beginners questions!

[tangerinedreams]

Hello everyone im new to chickens!

I have read several books but they all give me such a large amount of options for how to setup the coop that it just gets confusing.

I have a small, coop and run that sits on grass and I'll be putting three chickens into shortly. It has a little bedroom and a nest box. My question is that I dont know what materials to use where!

I have -

a bag of compost

a bag of white spruce saw dust

bag of straw

and bag of wood shavings

Can someone just give me a bit of advice please, I dont want to get it wrong and end up with a dead chicken! Thanks a bunch

 

[GwenDellAnno]

I would pick either the straw or the wood shavings. I think it just comes down to preference between the two. My personal pick is shavings.

 

[teach1rusl]

from Indiana!

Does the housing part of your coop sit directly on the grass, or does it have a floor? I'm a big fan of shavings for the housing myself (and nest boxes), but I clean droppings daily. If you're planning on doing deep litter method in your coop (I don't know how feasable that is for a very small coup, especially if it's a short coop). I'd leave grass in the run area until it's eaten down, and then I'd go with sand. If my run ever goes south (bare dirt), sand will be the choice for me. Good luck!

 

[ams3651]

i use wood shavings in the coop and nest box. Straw can harbor insects. Just a reminder not to use cedar shavings as it is harmful to the chickens. No real need for anything in the run, some people use sand for easy clean up though if you would want to do that.

 

[Annabella]

I used to use straw in the nest boxes and coop and thought it was suitable.
Then my DH convinced me to try wood shavings and why oh why didnt I use them earlier.

They really absorb the moisture from the droppings and sooooo easy to clean up.

Only thing I found was I must have had a "bad" batch and it had a lot of wood mites or something in there.
A good dose suitable insecticide fixed that problem up.
I will not go back to straw again thats for sure!!

 

[kipper]

Wood shavings all the way! Straw stinks (really, it stinks).