coop floor

[m_herrington]

Quote:
I cover the floor with about 2" to start. As the birds poop on them they will increase in volumn as they break down to a coarse sawdust after absorbing the moisture in the poop there are never any clumps, and the birds will keep everything stirred up enough that poop just disappears. My floors are probably 5" deep,and the birds love them. They sctatch and dig in them just like they were outside taking dust baths in the dirt. Keeping them dry though is the key to sucess with this method.
I cleaned some pens this past week so I could start some young birds coming up. The manure texture is such than you can use a lawn fertilizer spreader just like you were using bag fertlizer.

geareduplyn...

what kind of floor do you have in your coop? would the pine pellets work on a dirt floor?

 

[geareduplyn]

Quote:
I cover the floor with about 2" to start. As the birds poop on them they will increase in volumn as they break down to a coarse sawdust after absorbing the moisture in the poop there are never any clumps, and the birds will keep everything stirred up enough that poop just disappears. My floors are probably 5" deep,and the birds love them. They sctatch and dig in them just like they were outside taking dust baths in the dirt. Keeping them dry though is the key to sucess with this method.
I cleaned some pens this past week so I could start some young birds coming up. The manure texture is such than you can use a lawn fertilizer spreader just like you were using bag fertlizer.

geareduplyn...

what kind of floor do you have in your coop? would the pine pellets work on a dirt floor?

Some of my floors are 3/4 plywood, but I have a row of 12 breeding pens that are dirt floored. When I got here two years ago, I didn't have time to make a raised floor breeding unit, so I just dumped about 3 bags in each individual pen. I've added some as needed but other than that they haven't had anything else done. The litter must be now about a foot deep. My little Araucana hens are almost invisible when they take dust baths in it. Once again the key to using this stuff is keeping it dry. I use pine straw in my outside runs which is changed on a regular basis. Rainfall runs right through pine straw so my hens always walk in the house with dry feet. This also insures that the eggs are clean for hatching.

Pellets on dirt inside. Pine straw in the runs

 

[justsidney]

So for starters: I get hay and straw mixed up, but why hasn't anyone mentioned using it(the stuff comes in a bale and is used as bedding, not food, can't seem to remember what is what)? I used hay (straw?) and it seems to work alright, but someone told me it can carry disease, has anyone heard that before?

 

[joebryant]

Quote:
I cover the floor with about 2" to start. As the birds poop on them they will increase in volumn as they break down to a coarse sawdust after absorbing the moisture in the poop there are never any clumps, and the birds will keep everything stirred up enough that poop just disappears. My floors are probably 5" deep,and the birds love them. They sctatch and dig in them just like they were outside taking dust baths in the dirt. Keeping them dry though is the key to sucess with this method.
I cleaned some pens this past week so I could start some young birds coming up. The manure texture is such than you can use a lawn fertilizer spreader just like you were using bag fertlizer.

Sounds great! I'm going to try it if my TS has them.
Here's some info:
http://www.equinepine.com/why.html

EDIT: Yep, just called my Tractor Supply. They have them. They're $5.87 for 50 pounds.

 

[cajunlizz]

Quote:
Would you PLEASE post the link for this place where you buy the pine pellets

 

[Lilychick]

Okay, I just bought the equine pine and I'm going to try it. I am a little worried that the chickens will try to eat it but we'll see. The pellets are a little bigger than their layer pellets. I also picked up a bag of the same sort of stuff for my rabbit - it is made by the same company. This stuff, "cozy" something, says it is also good for birds.

I'll let you know what happens. Wish me luck.

 

[Kathy1]

I have a small coop with a dirt floor, with 2 RIR's what should I use??

 

[risurocket]

I have been reading this thread, and the part about chicken feet getting hurt when jumping down from roosts got me thinking about outside dangers too.

My run currently (no chickens yet, so lots of time for improvement) is bordered by castle wall sized concrete and the floor is layers and layers of gravel (apparently so it will drain). The area had been a chicken run in the distant past, but then got converted to the storage of gardening and farming equip. so I don't know if that gravel was added later or what. We are in the process of cleaning the equip out.

It looks kind of like a gravel driveway (level with the castle wall, which is the border around the floor) with courser gravel right now. Should I rake and put down some bedding in the run so there are no chicken feet issues?

 

[poisonivie]

Ok I'm new to this. What is the reason that we don't use cedar chips for the chickens ?

 

[ccrecelius]

Quote:
They are toxic to chickens