California-Southern

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
Only ventilation at the top to allow accumulate ammonia out.

I have only raised chickens in San Diego near the city and in the County high desert. My coops have always been open sided. Bare ground underneath. with shavings or rice hulls on top.

One thing to help keep the coop clean just be aware they do most their droppings in the coop when they roost for the night. No matter the bedding or bedding style or ventilation. Just catching those poos and getting them out will improve the overall cleanlieness of the coop.

Some people use poop boards with sweet PDZ or sand or shavings, even nothing. But the best one I have seen is slinging a bit of canvas under the roosts. What it does is allow the poo to desiccate more quickly.

Here is an article Clean Keeping the coop...

There are a few threads here on the subject.

deb

 

[hofhine68]

@sol2go

Thank you, sol2go. :^)

I was hoping to add two cream legbar hens and two marraduna basque hens to my flock next summer, so if I stay that route I will be looking for a good source of eggs once spring comes around and I have a broody hen or two. I'll be sure to check the threads and website you mention!

For my arrangement, hatching eggs under a broody hen in the coop works out quite well. The hen looks after them and teaches them everything they need to know, and they are up on the highest perches by the time they are one month old. The other hens don't really bother them (some even sit on the eggs while the broody hen takes her daily break) until they are close to adult size, and even at that point it is limited to a bout or two of ruffled feathers and chest bumping with some pecking, and then someone backs down (usually the younger one). I have noticed that my chickens at the top of the hierarchy and my chickens at the bottom don't really change positions, it is the ones in the middle who bicker amongst themselves. I have good space and visual barriers/distractions that allow them to get away from each other if they want/need to.

I hear your warning that moldy straw is not good, and I do know that mold in general is very bad for chickens. My use of straw bales is only on the outside of my run along one side and only during the wet/windy winter. The straw inside the run is just a flake or two to give them something "less wet" to walk/stand on during a storm, and I end up raking it out once the weather clears up and adding new when there is another storm (the run is covered, but if the rain is coming down at an angle they will have some mud). Most of the time our winters are just windy, but we are all supposed to be ready for rain like we had in 1982 and 1997. In the spring the old bales become mulch under my tomato plants and berry bushes.

What are some of your favorite breeds?

 

[UrbanFarmOC]

At last, we've lost chicks to hungry Hawks. After many sightings and too many close calls to count, the Hawks finally won. During migration season, we see at least 1-2 a day. This week, 2 of my chicks, a Swedish Flower and a Cream Legbar, disappeared. Both were about 4-6 weeks old and from GFF. i didn't find any evidence after the SFH disappeared. But today, after I returned home, I noticed the chickens all hiding, even the Biggies and my rooster. All came out when they saw me, except the CL. I found some of her feathers and blood.

I think the hawks are extra hungry due to the nature of the season and the drought. We accept it as a fact of nature, and a risk because we free-range ours. But I was really looking forward to seeing them grow and they had such wonderful personalities. Of course, the hawk didn't go after some packing peanut boys, only my specialty birds.

For now, the poor babies will be tractored and caged until they're a bit bigger, or when they can be supervised. These were hatchery/breeder chicks, so there is no broody mama to look out for them.

Hope all of your chickens and babies are safe!!

 

[UrbanFarmOC]

Thanks for the tips on using PDZ!

 

[gotro17]

Oh no!!!

Same thing happened to us! Two 6 week old Cream legbars...no antisocial silkies or crazy Wyandottes. I'm so sorry.

 

[UrbanFarmOC]

@gotro17 sorry for your loss too!!

 

[gotro17]

Thank you

... My girls got a quick real life Circle of Life lesson~ Never too early when keeping chickens!

 

[hofhine68]

I am so sorry UrbanFarmOC and gotro17!

:^(

 

[Sylvester017]

Regarding the straw bales, they have advantages and disadvantages. One thought is that they are more likely to harbor mites than wood chips or leaves do. If the bales are wet/damp and begin to mold, that is not healthy. However digging around in fresh straw provides good exercise and a distraction (which helps to reduce behavioral problems).

Amen regarding the straw as good exercise and distraction! When I clean the nestboxes and add new straw (almost every day) I have to close up the coop; otherwise 2 or 3 hens will stand at the ready to dig out the new straw the second I clean the nestboxes! After cleaning the coop I wait 10 or 15 minutes before opening the pop door at which time the hens have forgotten I was cleaning their coop so they don't enter it to dig up my hard work.

 

[sol2go]

@gotro17 sorry for your loss too!!

Sorry that you both had losses.