Chicken feet swollen by hot coop ground

[Bryce Thomas]

That would be a lot more ongoing trouble than providing appropriate bedding in the run.

I am a tremendous fan of feathered feet and would hate to spoil their beauty unless trimming were medically-necessary.

Ok. Do pine shavings work as bedding? I have that. Also is it like 3 inches of bedding or like scattered bedding everywhere like not even any depth of bedding just pieces of shaving scattered everywhere.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Not sure where you are at, but I'm in sunny FL, routinely get days in the mid 90s, little cooling overnight, repeat.

My soil is clay-ey sands and sandy-clays, with a definite "Georgia red" look in places.

No problems with hot ground and chicken feet, even with my feathered dark brahma.


Banties, with their low body mass to surface area ratios actually bleed heat better than my high mass to surface area dark brahma or my cornishX hen (who at least has the advantage of white coloration and a large comb).

Shade. Dry places to dig and bed. (even an inch or two below surface level can be significantly cooler, and the Earth is a "rather large" heat sink). I also like leaf litter/wood chips on the ground on general principle.

 

[black_cat]

Could you give a picture of their run?
Unless they're on asphalt, concrete, or sand, I don't really see anything else getting hot enough to cause issues, so I'm wondering if the root of the problem is the ground.

 

[3KillerBs]

Ok. Do pine shavings work as bedding? I have that. Also is it like 3 inches of bedding or like scattered bedding everywhere like not even any depth of bedding just pieces of shaving scattered everywhere.

Any dry organic material can be used as bedding.

Wood chips, wood shavings, straw, pine straw, hay, dried grass, dry fall leaves, ....

You need enough bedding to absorb the poop and the moisture. I'd go at least 2-3 inches and add more in layers as needed. You can just dump a pile in the middle of the run and the chickens will be happy to spread it for you.

This is a photo of my run, which has primarily pine straw -- it's been accumulating since the grass was eradicated last fall.

The chickens dig through the pine straw in search of food (I toss a handful of scratch in a couple times a week), and they dig their own dustbaths anywhere that pleases them.

 

[Bryce Thomas]

Any dry organic material can be used as bedding.

Wood chips, wood shavings, straw, pine straw, hay, dried grass, dry fall leaves, ....

You need enough bedding to absorb the poop and the moisture. I'd go at least 2-3 inches and add more in layers as needed. You can just dump a pile in the middle of the run and the chickens will be happy to spread it for you.

This is a photo of my run, which has primarily pine straw -- it's been accumulating since the grass was eradicated last fall.

View attachment 2634735

The chickens dig through the pine straw in search of food (I toss a handful of scratch in a couple times a week), and they dig their own dustbaths anywhere that pleases them.

My chickens don't have a run, but a very large coop. They have a run I would say, but its not very big. I only have 3 chickens and they have 7 by 7 feet of space. Thats a lot of bedding ;-; . They have shade and water and a treadle feeder and everything. They have lots of light too. I play with them 2 hours a day in there and thewy love cuddling with me, even my roo. I will send pictures tommorow of the coop

 

[black_cat]

7 by 7 feet of space. Thats a lot of bedding ;-; .

I have a run that has 66 square feet of space, and it all has bedding. It's not hard- find the cheapest dirt that you can at the hardware store, get two bags, and dump it all in the middle with some shavings.

 

[Bryce Thomas]

These 2 pictures get almost the whole coop

 

[Bryce Thomas]

I have a run that has 66 square feet of space, and it all has bedding. It's not hard- find the cheapest dirt that you can at the hardware store, get two bags, and dump it all in the middle with some shavings.

By dirt do you mean like sandy soil? Garden soil? Top soil? I have massive heaps of dirt in my backyard as well but its the same dirt as the dirt that is already as the floor od the coop so I dont think the mound of dirt I have will do much

 

[U_Stormcrow]

7x7 is near 50 sq ft, that's actually quite a lot of space for three birds, compared to what we normally see. Not so much bedding as you might imagine - that's still smaller than either of my two coops, and much smaller than either run. Maybe three loads of my gorilla cart worth of raked up leaves and the like will fill that fine. Its not even a cubic yard of materials. Now 25x35, or 50x60? That's a little more raking.

What do you have for raw materials locally? and do you have access to a resource like "Chip Drop" to get a load of trimmings from local arborists/tree crews for local electric/road utilities?

Your birds sound well cared for. They are fortunate to have such a concerned and engaged owner.

 

[black_cat]

By dirt do you mean like sandy soil? Garden soil? Top soil? I have massive heaps of dirt in my backyard as well but its the same dirt as the dirt that is already as the floor od the coop so I dont think the mound of dirt I have will do much

Topsoil, potting soil, whatever's cheapest. It shouldn't be sandy. If the dirt in your backyard is the same as what's getting hot, don't use it.