Bedding?

[christa7032]

Hi Everyone. I was just wondering what you all use for bedding and where. Right now my girls (and boys) have a 7x10' coop that has shavings with perches and nesting boxes and a 10x10' run (soon to be 20x10) that is just dirt. I like having the shavings but the mice like it so much that I am tempted to just pull all the shavings and leave them in just dirt with something soft in the nesting boxes. Does anyone else have theirs in just dirt? If so, how is the smell? since the shavings definitely help with that. Any tips would be appreciated.

 

[JLS]

Cant tell you about the dirt and smell. But I do hope someone answers your post because I am curious now too.

 

[chicmom]

Hello Christa--I've used just about everything, and what I like the best, is wood shavings inside the coop, and sand in the run. What will happen if you just have dirt is, when it rains, you will have a muddy mess, and mud + poop = a terrible stench and flies. With the sand in the run, it doesn't matter if it gets wet. And what I do is go around each day and poop scoop the run, then I rake it up nice and smooth. Sometimes I even spray the sand real good with water (when it's super hot out), and the girls seem to like that.

I'm not sure which climate you're in, but in Ohio, it's almost fall, and my chickens love it when I rake up some fallen leaves and put them in the run. They really enjoy scratching around in the leaves, and you can rake them up pretty easily, and the sand is still there when you take the leaves away.

You can get a truck load of sand pretty easily and cheaply if you have a pickup truck, or know someone with one. This is just my personal opinion. Hope it helps!

 

[calicokat]

Couldn't you keep the bedding and poision the mice? We had mice tunnelling into our coop in the spring. I would see where they left a hole and then I'd drop a few poision pellets in the hole and fill it back up with the dirt - then cover it with shavings to be extra sure the girls wouldn't accidently get to the poison.

Soon enough the mice were gone, and haven't been back (knock on wood!)

There are some good ideas on BYC for PVC type things you can make that will let the mouse get to the poison, and keep the chickens out too.

 

[tomingreeneco]

I use pine shavings in the coop and they free range all day. Replace it once a week.