Best Bedding for Coop / What to Put in Run?

[DobieLover]

The new coop will be tall enough for me to walk in if I need to, but it's really not a walk in coop. That's why it's going to have the removable side boards. A poop board wouldn't really work for Winter, it gets so cold here the hose won't be usable and the poop would just freeze to the board. We regularly see -15F in the winter with several inches of snow on the ground from Nov - March. That's an interesting idea about using Sweet PDZ on the coop floor.

What kind of wood chips do you use? I have cedar wood chips in my garden but I read that can cause issues with chickens. It does deter bugs though.

I don't hose down the poop board. It has the Sweet PDZ in it and I scoop the poop out with a metal cat litter scoop. During winter when it freezes to the board, I carefully chisel it off with a hammer and paint scraper. It only adds an additional 3-4 minutes to my cleaning time.

The coop floor bedding is hemp. I've also used pine shavings.
The wood chips I get from a local Town Highway department. They collect curbside branches and shred or chip them and offer them to the residents for free.
No cedar chips should be used around chickens IMO.

I have all the same cast of predator characters you have. Only the fisher cats here are the normal size of 8-11 pounds.
I have a 2' predator apron around my entire coop and run setup and nothing gets in. No attempts have been made. First, they'd have to get past the electro-netting. Then they'd have to get past the 1/2" hardware cloth.

Coops should be open and well ventilated year round, including in the winter. That is what keeps birds warm in the winter: dry, well ventilated coops.
The only vents I close off in my coop are the windows I have around the roost. Chickens do not keep warm the way humans and other mammals do. They do not need each other to stay warm. They fluff up their feathers to trap their body heat and tuck their faces under their feathers.

 

[aart]

The other reason is just how cold it gets here. I don't think a dirt floor would allow the coop to hold in enough heat when it gets really cold and is snowing.

You don't want your coop to 'hold heat', the essential good ventilation makes that moot.

 

[ObiHenKanobi]

I don't hose down the poop board. It has the Sweet PDZ in it and I scoop the poop out with a metal cat litter scoop. During winter when it freezes to the board, I carefully chisel it off with a hammer and paint scraper. It only adds an additional 3-4 minutes to my cleaning time.
View attachment 2240652
View attachment 2240659
The coop floor bedding is hemp. I've also used pine shavings.
The wood chips I get from a local Town Highway department. They collect curbside branches and shred or chip them and offer them to the residents for free.
No cedar chips should be used around chickens IMO.

I have all the same cast of predator characters you have. Only the fisher cats here are the normal size of 8-11 pounds.
I have a 2' predator apron around my entire coop and run setup and nothing gets in. No attempts have been made. First, they'd have to get past the electro-netting. Then they'd have to get past the 1/2" hardware cloth.

Coops should be open and well ventilated year round, including in the winter. That is what keeps birds warm in the winter: dry, well ventilated coops.
The only vents I close off in my coop are the windows I have around the roost. Chickens do not keep warm the way humans and other mammals do. They do not need each other to stay warm. They fluff up their feathers to trap their body heat and tuck their faces under their feathers.

Thank you for that info and the photos!

I love the cam you have inside your coop. Is that just a game camera?

 

[DobieLover]

Thank you for that info and the photos!

I love the cam you have inside your coop. Is that just a game camera?

It's a Wyze cam. I have 4 of them set up in and around the coop. They plug in and work off WiFi.