Chicken run- best material for floor that's proven????

[WoodlandWoman]

I meant plain concrete or cement floors. If you have litter of some sort over it, then that's cushioning them.

 

[gsim]

Like Pat and Chickens said, plus I would advise coarse sand made of crushed limestone. That is the same stuff in concrete. I has sizes ideal fora grit for the chooks so you do not have to buy that any more.

Gerry

 

[cabincrazyone]

forgive my igrimss (as Popeye would say) .... are you saying that chickens can ingest limestone without harm?

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
yep pretty interesting stuff. used in TUMS too.... so its good for peoples....

um... too

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/limestone-rocks-facts.html
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/calcite-uses.html

 

[gsim]

Quote:
Yes. They swallow the crushed granite grit you buy at the feed store. They are quite capable of finding what they need from coarse sand. They have to have grit in their crop because they cannot chew. The grit makes up somewhat for that.

gerry

 

[AndreaSctlnd]

Okay...I am a newbie with the chicken thing. We are trying to find out what would be the easiest thing to find in our town as floor material. Has anyone ever used shredded paper? Do you think this would work? I could get scads of it at work. It is so funny but we are having a really hard time finding straw/hay.

 

[MamaChic21]

Quote:
you can get wood shavings from any store that sales pet supplies, I think that would work better then shredded paper.

 

[wolfandfinch]

Quote:
why not straw? You can get bedding straw pretty easily in almost any area...

 

[gsim]

As long as the shredded paper is free and as long as you do not mind maybe having to change it out at shorter intervals, I would use it. Provided that you can get all of it you need . I would avoid straw if possible in warmer weather. Some on this forum have reported that if mites get into your flock, they can hide/breed in the straw as it is hollow. I have used it to add topping in wintertime with no ill effects.

I use grass clippings all year long and really build them up in Sept Oct when end of cutting season comes. I will add a square bale of hay during winter to freshen up/top off the litter. I only replace it once a year, in springtime, after grass-cutting is underway. This year we did cobwebs, dusting, and washing windows and window frames in late Feb while it was warm for a spell. So we only have litter replacement remaining for this year's coop cleaning.

Some on this forum say not to use hay as the chooks will eat it and that the long strands lead to an impacted crop that turns sour. I have not had that happen, but mine get a wide variety of treats around 3 times a day, so they do not have a chance to be bored with their feed. Maybe that is why mine do not eat hay. I have seen them root thru fresh grass clippings looking for dandelion and clover tho.


gerry

 

[badbowtie]

I have also been reading around on this topic and can't decide if I should use sand or I have a a really big pile of wood chippings that the electric company came up to the house and trimmed trees and dumped two loads of mulch from the chipper trucks.