bedding and cleaning henhouse

[freckledhen]

Hey, people, I'm rather new at this, altho i have many memories of my grandma and helping her with hers back in the day. We have 32 young adult chickens, including 2 roosters, and 3 in the brooder at about 3 weeks. My question is this: I've looked at many pics of your henhouses and seen various options for bedding. I'm curious what others prefer and why. I'm also looking at how these little darlings poop everywhere! Alot of the interior is rough wood, framed using pallets. How messy is too messy, and should i be using any cleaning products? I don't want to create an environment that could lead to disease.

 

[2jsbabyfarm]

im guessing your going to get a lot of different opinions about this!! So ill just tell you what we do and then something we want to do! We use sand on the coop floor mixed with Sweet PDZ. In thr nests we use wood shavings or straw mixed with a little Sweet PDZ. our chickens are free range and really only use the coop to roostat night. And thats when alot of poop happens!! I just use a cat litter scoop and scoop it right up and out. Easy peasy and stays relatively clean! Now someday whem we have a bigger hen house I would like to put poop boards under the roosts, that way thry aremt poopin all over the living space on the floor. I would use the sand/pdz mix.in those. So thats just what works for us plus a little idea I would implement someday. Hope you figure UT what works best for you!!

 

[freckledhen]

Thx for your reply! and I did finally find my way to the coop hygiene article. I guess I'd better get busy! Need to make a list and head to the feed store! Man, I'm looking to forward to getting to know my way around this community!

 

[Mr MKK FARMS]

Welcome to BYC! Glad you joined us!

 

[2jsbabyfarm]

Thx for your reply! and I did finally find my way to the coop hygiene article. I guess I'd better get busy! Need to make a list and head to the feed store! Man, I'm looking to forward to getting to know my way around this community!  

It has been a God-send! I use byc constantly =)

 

[liz9910]

Welcome to BYC!

 

[drumstick diva]

aren't they the cutest little poop machines.? You are lucky they aren't ducks - they are much messier .

 

[redsoxs]

Greetings from a fellow Kansan, freckled hen, and

! Happy you joined our community! Lots of folks use the deep litter method. Here's a link to how that works. Good luck to you!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=1560-DLM

 

[BantamFan4Life]

Welcome to BYC! Happy you joined!

 

[ChirpyChicks1]

Welcome to the site The floor of my coop is high grade plywood, something my carpenter thought he needed to use

I'm sure it cost a butt-load but thankfully I haven't received a bill yet he-he but I laid a loose sheet of vinyl flooring down and then covered it with pine shavings. I despise pine shavings, they get everywhere but I'm not going to use sand, I'd use it in my run but not in the coop (just my personal opinion, I know some people think it's the best thing ever)