Deep Litter or Sand & Mosquitoes in Run

[Fallenone05]

So I guess this is a double whammy thread due to me wanting to maintain my coop the best way I can.
I'm trying to be as informative as I can with this, I just hope it makes sense!

I live in Oklahoma, on the Eastern, wet side (yay arkansas river valley). We've got mosquitoes something fierce here and it makes me worry for the health of my birds, and if I got into using deep litter. I'm wanting to be able to throw compostable things + their poop into their run and letting them enjoy it, but I feel like -

A) The wood at the bottom of the run touching the ground will rot faster
B) It's too humid here and it'll become a haven for a ton more mosquitoes
C) It'll get too wet from rain. Rain generally just sort of.. blows into the run even with it roofed, especially since rain and storms come in off a weather system moving through.

Would sand be the better option here?
I hate that they walk on the occasional wet dirt but I hate cleaning the coop in summer heat and feel Deep Litter (DL) would be good for them and me.
It's September and hanging in the 90F range with 50+% humidity, and the summer was so, so much worse. Sand would help keep them cool, too, right?

For coop dimensions + chickens (if that's needed?) I've got an 8x8 run/coop combo with an extra 4ft under the coop, and right now it houses 4 adults + 2 teens - I've got a mother hen with 3 babies who need moved in. Two of the babies will be sold soon, as they're roosters, and I'll be processing an adult once I get the right tools.

I'm also really curious what ya'll do about the mosquitoes around where you live. They love the shade so can you keep them out of roofed runs?
Does DE help at all with mosquitoes or do you use plants to help repel them?? Or something??
I'm at a loss. It's miserable and I feel bad for my chickens, if the mosquitoes can even bite them.

 

[just13nat]

I don't really have any advice, but I'm also (north) east Oklahoma. Mosquitos are horrible, and the rainy weather all last week didn't help. (It's too bad earthquakes don't scare away mosquitos!

) My kids love to help me with chicken chores, but right now I won't let them. Five minutes outside and they're covered in bites. We also have a small creek that runs behind our house. We started with sand, our run is also covered but it was getting really stinky after last week. I added a bag of Koop Klean and grass clippings to the run and it helped tremendously for the smell, but of course doesn't help with mosquito issue. Our compost is not in the run, but it's close by. I also feel bad for the chickens with all these darn mosquitos.

 

[Fallenone05]

I don't really have any advice, but I'm also (north) east Oklahoma. Mosquitos are horrible, and the rainy weather all last week didn't help. (It's too bad earthquakes don't scare away mosquitos!

) My kids love to help me with chicken chores, but right now I won't let them. Five minutes outside and they're covered in bites. We also have a small creek that runs behind our house. We started with sand, our run is also covered but it was getting really stinky after last week. I added a bag of Koop Klean and grass clippings to the run and it helped tremendously for the smell, but of course doesn't help with mosquito issue. Our compost is not in the run, but it's close by. I also feel bad for the chickens with all these darn mosquitos.

Haha! It'd definitely be nice if mosquitoes got scared away by earthquakes!
I don't even know where ours come from, other than just off the ground. It's miserable. I can step outside and go to the North side of the house and see mosquitoes just coming up off the ground.Our grass is mowed down short and the dirt looks dry, so I just don't get it.
Mine doesn't get really stinky since I clean it every two weeks but using sand and making a kitty litter-like scoop sounds much easier. I lose a lot of dirt from their run since I generally rake it and then shovel it out.. Koop Klean sounds like a good idea though! I'll keep that in mind in case it does get stinky. Thank you!