Coop bedding

[Blackbird2025]

Just built this walk-in coop for my 7 chickens. I have pine shavings in the actual coop that they will be in at night. Should I put straw on the floor of the run and do the deep litter method? I will be putting them in a chicken tractor on most days.

 

[sirrobyn0]

I guess I'm kind of old school. I don't know what the deep litter method is, but I may go look it up. If it was me, they would get hay or straw or chips in the "house" part of the coop. I'd use whatever I had on hand or could get cheaply, I personally don't think that the chickens really care since they roost over the stuff at night. Same thing goes in the nesting area, they will use what you give them. Some folks will say don't use hay or straw but I have not had an issue with it and I've been doing for a LONG time. In the run area I would not lay anything down. Let the ladies enjoy the grass. Once the grass is gone move it over if possible. If not then I would only lay something on the ground if it gets poopy. Keep in mind you may get eggs laying on the ground if you start to do that. And not to state the obvious but clean out as needed. Hopefully this helps.

 

[barneveldrerman]

I would personally use shaving in the coop and leave the run the way it is. The deep litter method would definitely be an option depending on your preference. I personally like the cleaner look of bare ground or grass. The deep litter method would need less attention if that was what you were looking for.

If you have any more questions, don't hesitate to ask!

 

[Stephine]

I really like deep litter in the run. I started out with medium shavings (eco flake) and maybe 5-6 inches of it. Now I am only adding the large shavings every now and then. Otherwise all that gets added is the leftovers from whatever greens I toss them and the occasional oat straw to oick through for oats. I don’t need to clean this run out more than once a year, IF even that. Poop just disappears. Never a smell to it or flies. We are in Sonoma County in CA so things are very dry most of the year. Now that I put a tarp up when we get rain I really don’t need to worry about things getting yucky in the run at all. I haven’t done a thing other than adding some shavings now and then and raking every 2-3 days (they tend to scratch to the bare ground at one end and toss the shavings into the other end) since November. Highly recommend it! - oh and I do dump out their water buckets in a shady part of the run when it gets hot, so they have cool soil underneath to dig to, yet no muck, no smell.