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SonoranChick said:
I have never seen my chickens more happy than when they were given an entire bale of alfalfa to rip apart. I'm glad to hear that you know of others who give it to their chickens as a supplemental aid...that was kind of my goal for this winter. My uncle said they were eating bugs and all kinds of things in the bale, not just alfalfa, so it was ok. And alfalfa is fine for them to eat. I guess my problem is that it gets wet it the run. Maybe I could do alfalfa in the coop where it stays dry...Either way I have definitely decided that the soggy stuff needs to go.
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I'm going to have to get some. I didn't know that. I just have bought extra veggies for them for the winter. That would be a great treat for them.
 
SonoranChick said:
@BlueBaby Ok this is good the hear...Honestly it would be a lot easier if they were on dirt and sand only. The hay is hard to keep clean...I've done deep bedding before but when it rains, like the past few days, I feel like it's just a big poopy mess. With the sand and dirt, I can easily keep things clean. Rain or shine. Maybe I will redo the run. They are going to be MAD at mama when I remove their beloved alfalfa :mad::gig
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Maybe you could slope the ground a bit in the run so that the excess water will run outside of the coop in the direction that you would feel comfortable with?
 
BlueBaby said:
I just have the regular ground dirt in mine. I heard that those scorpions like to hide out in the hay. I use some of that artificial turf as a nesting box mat. If it gets dirty looking, it's easy to take it off and hose it down to clean. I have several of those, so I put a dry one in when I wash the other one.
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I'm planing on putting the astro turf in as well. I'm glad to hear it works well. Not that I have trouble with broken or cracked eggs, but I was thinking that it would be useful to prevent that.
 
SonoranChick said:
I have never seen my chickens more happy than when they were given an entire bale of alfalfa to rip apart. I'm glad to hear that you know of others who give it to their chickens as a supplemental aid...that was kind of my goal for this winter. My uncle said they were eating bugs and all kinds of things in the bale, not just alfalfa, so it was ok. And alfalfa is fine for them to eat. I guess my problem is that it gets wet it the run. Maybe I could do alfalfa in the coop where it stays dry...Either way I have definitely decided that the soggy stuff needs to go.
Click to expand...

Maybe when you get the bale, you could just put a little in there at a time to stretch it out, and that way it won't be so bad when it comes to clean out time?
 
I put my bales of alfalfa in my hay box and give out a giant flake at a time. They love it and the alfalfa is good for them in many ways. I try not to use straw in my run EXCEPT when it is muddy, muddy, muddy - so there is some straw down now that will come up soon as it continues to dry. In my nest boxes I use a bedding hay that I get at Tractor Supply - made by Standlee and is a compressed bale. It is soft and I really like it. BUT if I should come across some astro turf as a freebie I'm going to try it in my nest boxes. @Bobby Basham - I think I paid about $15.00 for my last bale from the feed store. You can get it for less from the farmer but it was the wrong time of year. I'm not really a fan of the compressed bales from the feed store but they are okay if space is a problem. I have a relative large hay box so I get it in bales and transport it on my husband's wheelchair lift! Yep I get those stares but it works.
 

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