Bedding

[nuttyboo]

We use sand, I also have a poop board but super easy 10 minutes twice a day of pooper scooping no smell it's wonderful I also sprinkle stable boys in we had pine shavings but the smell was too strong for me

 

[MamaGallina3]

For those of you who use sand: Has anyone had a problem with ants? We live in FL and have found just recently the run area (that is sand) has an ant infestation! I was cleaning the run area of poop out daily and it was super clean, and no problems. But I got pretty sick (about 3 weeks) and couldn't get out there everyday. My hubby took over, but by no means was the run getting cleaned daily. We ended up with big time flies too. He raked the area and sifted what he could find of poop, and sprinkled food grade DE. The flies are gone, but the ants are awful. I have been letting them out of the run as much as possible. B/C I imagine the ants would bite the chickens as well. Any suggestions?? The chickens are about 10-12 weeks old.

 

[6 littleHens]

Maybe DE dust would kill the ants or deter them, idk

 

[6 littleHens]

Friend of mine had trouble with some kind of red gnats around run and she was told to sprinkle barn lime around it.

 

[nuttyboo]

I'm trying to cut the dust down some in the coop it's all sand but when I get pooper scooping and the girls are dust bathing it really gets dusty would it be ok to put liquid calcium in to help with dust ups???

 

[6 littleHens]

Lol, I'm still working on the perfect bedding! Sand did not work for me and neither is layer of dirt and various beddings.

 

[Mahlzeit]

I like to use leaves as my bedding in my coop and in my poop board. They're free, it gives me a use for them, seems to keep the smell of the droppings down in the coop compared to pine shavings and it also composts great and quicker than pine shavings.