coop confinement when temps dip - enrichment/dust bath?

[Trogdor]

Hey all,

Up in Canada, North of Toronto. We have mild winters, but always below freezing and sometimes big dips. This spring we built a 8x12 woods style coop for our climate, props to Cholland for posting specs. 8 girls that roam as they wish outside in a 65 x 100 space. Often they just like hanging in the coop.

Our only plan so far is to bring heat source to the water. No additional lighting.

Question 1)
When keep them inside the coop during the colder temps, do you go about enriching the environment? If so, what have you found keeps away boredom?

Question 2)
How do you manage with dust baths in confinement? When i've placed a dust bath in the coop, it just becomes a poop box, and dust is everywhere. I want food/water to remain clean...

Ideas welcome!

Thanks

 

[Latestarter]

Mine always "dust bathed" in the coop litter. Just throw some cooled stove ash or food grade DE in there with the litter and let them do what they do. In a dry, enclosed environment, you are always going to have a huge dust/dander problem. You can add some moisture, but in sub zero, that causes other issues with frostbite. Best thing to help with that is adequate ventilation. Be careful with powered vents (elec motors) as they are dust magnets and can overheat and cause fires.

Congrats on building a Woods style coop. I plan to build one on my next go-round.

 

[aart]

Where do they dust bathe now?
Is it sheltered from rain/snow?

I have an area under the coop as part of the run, I put up a wind/snow block the one exposed side, it stays pretty dry and surprisingly unfrozen most the winter..so they continue to dust bathe there. I do reserve some dry soil in a bucket and put it into a bin in the coop in winter if the under-run freezes, but they rarely use it.
My run is not protected from wind and snow, and we can get feet of snow, so I shovel out part of it both for me to maintain mesh roof, to give them room to move around, and to speed snow melt.

 

[Trogdor]

@Latestarter Thanks for the feedback, I'm going to try to put down some ashes in the front 4x8 portion, maybe move the food/water back a bit. Good advice and good time to clean out the woodstove. Will make sure later in the winter that they're plenty cold without embers before topping up, wouldn't want an incident.

How does DE work?

@aart Smart set up on the raised coop. Mine is not accessible. The current setup for dust bath is outside in an older concrete mixing tub, and a few favourite loose sandy spots under some trees, there is no shelter. When i've brought the tub into the coop it just becomes a pooping hangout and gets pretty dirty everywhere... maybe that's not avoidable. Do people put sand down on the wood floor inside their coops? Or fine pine shavings? I put down blackjack and have got larger shavings, starting to add some leaves and a bit of straw.

 

[aart]

Do people put sand down on the wood floor inside their coops? Or fine pine shavings?

I think @JackE has sand in the front part of his Woods ...and shavings in the back.

 

[Latestarter]

DE is basically fossilized single cell critters. They are all ground up into a "dust" that if looked at under a scope looks like jagged crushed glass... very sharp... It kills bugs by desiccation. The sharp edges cut through their waxy outer body coverings making them unable to retain moisture and they dry out and die. Food grade is specified because you do NOT want to be breathing in the dust from the non food grade. Personally, I don't want to breath in any of the dust from either.

 

[Trogdor]

Thanks aart, i'm going to experiment with finer shavings and some wood ash up front, see how that works, if not can try sand. Maybe @JackE can chime in with his experience on that, or I can ask him.

If DE isn't good for us to breathe then is it OK for them? How much would you put down to keep critters at bay? I've got a hefty bag for the yard but haven't thought on putting it in the coop.

 

[aart]

If DE isn't good for us to breathe then is it OK for them? How much would you put down to keep critters at bay?

Nope, it sure isn't.
The only thing I've found DE any good for is when I get grain mites come with feed during the hot humid weather in summer, they are fragile, soft bodied creatures who easily succumb to the DE.

 

[snow5164]

I’m in Canada too , we have sand floors and poop boards , during those long winters mine bath away in the sand . Yes the water gets dirty but theses not much I can do, we raised the water up off the ground one foot , it helps but water gets changed more in the winter .

Buy a suet feeder , those metal squares , fill it with romaine lettuce or a sunflower seed block , it’s entertaining for them .

I sprouts lentils during the old months , and throw them all around the coop on the sand ... they love it!

I use DE in my nesting boxes along with wood ash , it is perfectly fine for chickens, pigs, cows and ducks . We use a lot of it for moisture absorption it drys up poop ...