Coops in wet, temperate climates? Bedding?

[Hobbits Mommie]

I live in central Florida and it's very wet & humid here. I'm new to chickens but have read that hemp is actually the most absorbent bedding, but it's hard to find and very expensive. I was using pine shavings, but found that it was difficult to deal with and switched to straw. Been very happy with it and I'm not having to clean it out as often. I use it in the coop, and in the run.

 

[animalyodelers]

@animalyodelers I live in Oly, too!

...okay, well, Tumwater.

Usually you just have to work the phone a bit to find an arborist who'll deliver chips free, or keep an eye out for anyone doing work in your neighborhood. They might be happy not to have to make a run all the way back to wherever they were going to dump 'em.

I can't help with other things because I don't actually have chickens yet, but if you want names of a few arborists who might be helpful, you could PM me.

I know they need to be aged, so not so useful for you right now. I use the woodchips for sheet mulching my yard, and since I'm extraordinarily slow I always have aged ones in a big ol' pile, but it's not a DRY pile -- now that I'm reading the aspergillus thread I wonder if I should work on that.

I have the same issue with leaves that you do. There are TONS of leaves, but it's not like any of 'em are DRY.

Hey neighbor!

I may do that if I can't find anyone in my neighborhood I can mooch off of, haha. Our neighborhood is 20-30 years old and huge, so someone's usually getting tree work done year round.

And yeah, one thing to love about this area is that even though it hasn't really rained in a couple days- everything is still nice and damp.. even the leaves that have been sitting in the sun all afternoon

 

[Hobbits Mommie]

@animalyodelers I live in Oly, too!

...okay, well, Tumwater.

Usually you just have to work the phone a bit to find an arborist who'll deliver chips free, or keep an eye out for anyone doing work in your neighborhood. They might be happy not to have to make a run all the way back to wherever they were going to dump 'em.

I can't help with other things because I don't actually have chickens yet, but if you want names of a few arborists who might be helpful, you could PM me.

I know they need to be aged, so not so useful for you right now. I use the woodchips for sheet mulching my yard, and since I'm extraordinarily slow I always have aged ones in a big ol' pile, but it's not a DRY pile -- now that I'm reading the aspergillus thread I wonder if I should work on that.

I have the same issue with leaves that you do. There are TONS of leaves, but it's not like any of 'em are DRY.

Also, your electric company may deliver for free. Ours trims trees and are thankful for a place to dump them.

 

[animalyodelers]

I live in central Florida and it's very wet & humid here. I'm new to chickens but have read that hemp is actually the most absorbent bedding, but it's hard to find and very expensive. I was using pine shavings, but found that it was difficult to deal with and switched to straw. Been very happy with it and I'm not having to clean it out as often. I use it in the coop, and in the run.

I always forget about hemp.. I have heard it's good too. We love all things hemp in this area, haha! I should be able to find it somewhere!

 

[paneubert]

For my fellow Washington people, not sure if they deliver as far south as Olympia, but Chip Drop ( https://getchipdrop.com/ ) will get you them for free..... Just add yourself to the list. One trick I will give you is to indicate a "tip" of 20 bucks or so in order to move up in priority. The companies can pick and choose whoever they want to deliver to, and most times do it on proximity to the job, but I can tell you that "tipping" "greases the wheels" a lot...

Most arborists use Chip Drop, so it saves you the time of calling around. Just get on the list and wait. They don't want to have to haul and then usually pay to dump the chips, so it is a win-win for both arborist and gardener. We have done 4 deliveries over the past few years. Our entire front yard is about 4-6 inches of chips. No grass.

 

[Skellington]

@paneubert That's awesome! So much more convenient that calling all around. Even if there's no one in the south sound, it's good to know -- my sister's up in Snohomish; I'll let her know.

I'm working on getting rid of most of my grass, too. The front yard is almost entirely veggie garden now. The back is... a mess. But 4-6 inches of woodchips is helping control the mess.

 

[MissChick@dee]

Thanks for the tips! I often see people around here offering free wood chips from downed trees, so I'll keep my eye out for good quality and check out undyed mulch at stores too.

Boy...I’d be all about FREE wood chips! You betcha’

 

[animalyodelers]

For my fellow Washington people, not sure if they deliver as far south as Olympia, but Chip Drop ( https://getchipdrop.com/ ) will get you them for free..... Just add yourself to the list. One trick I will give you is to indicate a "tip" of 20 bucks or so in order to move up in priority. The companies can pick and choose whoever they want to deliver to, and most times do it on proximity to the job, but I can tell you that "tipping" "greases the wheels" a lot...

Most arborists use Chip Drop, so it saves you the time of calling around. Just get on the list and wait. They don't want to have to haul and then usually pay to dump the chips, so it is a win-win for both arborist and gardener. We have done 4 deliveries over the past few years. Our entire front yard is about 4-6 inches of chips. No grass.

This is amazing! Thanks for the tip!

 

[animalyodelers]

Boy...I’d be all about FREE wood chips! You betcha’

Yeah, it's one of those things I've seen and always thought "ooooh I could use those for something!" But I've been trying to reign myself in to only getting things for EXISTING projects until I catch up, lol. Of course now I wish I had gotten some!

 

[worldlrnr]

Like what they use to landscape with. Get undyed mulch, put about 4 to 6inches in the run. They love to dig in it.View attachment 1584041

Sorry it took so long but thank you very much for the info
I will be looking into this for my 200 sq ft run.