Deep litter question!

[rosemarythyme]

Ahh that makes sense. Thanks for showing your deep litter! So it's definitely not good to use grass clippings then?

I throw in my grass clippings into my deep litter, but I let them dry out for a day or two where they've fallen on the lawn because: 1) dried grass clippings are less likely to mat/get slimy compared to fresh clippings and 2) my chickens love eating fresh clippings a little too much, but aren't as excited about dried grass, so that helps to minimize any chance of impaction.

 

[3KillerBs]

I throw in my grass clippings into my deep litter, but I let them dry out for a day or two where they've fallen on the lawn because: 1) dried grass clippings are less likely to mat/get slimy compared to fresh clippings and 2) my chickens love eating fresh clippings a little too much, but aren't as excited about dried grass, so that helps to minimize any chance of impaction.

Same here.

I always double-cut when I mow -- first on high and then on the desired height. Then I let the clippings dry at least overnight before I use the lawnsweeper.

I've never had my Deep Litter heat up at all.

 

[cp2894_]

I throw in my grass clippings into my deep litter, but I let them dry out for a day or two where they've fallen on the lawn because: 1) dried grass clippings are less likely to mat/get slimy compared to fresh clippings and 2) my chickens love eating fresh clippings a little too much, but aren't as excited about dried grass, so that helps to minimize any chance of impaction.

I'll give that a try!

 

[cp2894_]

I think you can see from many of the comments that there are some guidelines but there are plenty of conditions that dictate more or less space may be needed based on individual conditions. Look at it this way, make use of the most space you can reasonably accommodate now because there will be many situations where more space will be greatly beneficial (weather, ease of cleaning, room for more chickens!) and almost no reasons to go smaller other than lack of space or budget. You have a good starting point already with the shed structure and beginning of a run so cost will not be as significant as starting from scratch. Once you decide on size, think about covering the run and adding more predator protection with hardware cloth over the chain link and a predator apron. Figure out a protected place for food and water to live outside the coop. Think about the height of roosting bars and nesting boxes and how you can maximize the floor space inside the coop. Look at lots and lots of pictures for ideas. This is something you want to do right up front rather than trying to reconfigure with grown up chicks in the structure.

Thank you so much! I'll do some more research on ways to make more use of the space/add more space! I think if nothing else, I'm definitely going to raise the height of the coop. I'll also do a lot of predator proofing and add a roof to the run! I've been looking at some pictures on Pinterest to get some helpful ideas.

 

[cp2894_]

Because I don't think 4sqft is enough in a winter climate without an extensive weather protected run.

I must've forgot to mention before but the run will have a roof if that helps any!

 

[cp2894_]

So the correct dimensions are 6 feet 5 inches by 3 feet 8 inches?

That makes 23.5 square feet.
For 5 chickens, that should be enough floor space.
I agree with your idea of making it taller.

Maybe you can take the top off, and expand it to the full height of the shed. That would make a fairly nice coop for 5 chickens, and you would be able to walk into it if you want to.

Running one roost the long way would cause trouble when they try to fly down and then run into the wall, but running two roosts across it the short way would probably work. I would probably put a roost 1 foot in from each end, which keeps them far enough apart that a chicken on one roost cannot peck a chicken on the other roost.

You could put two nestboxes on the walls, or even have the nestboxes stick out into the shed so you can easily collect eggs without walking into the coop.

Thank you for the ideas! Especially on the roosts. When you say "1 foot in from each end" do you mean putting a roost one foot away from the wall and then another roost one foot away from that roost, or one foot away from the wall and then the same thing on the opposite wall having the 2 roosts on opposing ends?

 

[cp2894_]

Because I don't think 4sqft is enough in a winter climate without an extensive weather protected run.

Do you know of anything else I could do besides a roof to further weather protect the run?

 

[3KillerBs]

I must've forgot to mention before but the run will have a roof if that helps any!

That does help.

Do you know of anything else I could do besides a roof to further weather protect the run?

A lot of people in severe winter areas wrap their runs in plastic (leaving ventilation at the top of the walls).

If you browse through threads from Sept-Nov you'll find a lot of threads with people talking about how to winterize.

 

[cp2894_]

That does help.



A lot of people in severe winter areas wrap their runs in plastic (leaving ventilation at the top of the walls).

If you browse through threads from Sept-Nov you'll find a lot of threads with people talking about how to winterize.

Oh that's so smart! I'll check out some threads talking more about that

 

[NatJ]

Thank you for the ideas! Especially on the roosts. When you say "1 foot in from each end" do you mean putting a roost one foot away from the wall and then another roost one foot away from that roost, or one foot away from the wall and then the same thing on the opposite wall having the 2 roosts on opposing ends?

I was thinking roosts on opposite ends. If each roost was 1 foot from a wall, and the entire space is more than 6 feet long, the roosts would be more than 4 feet from each other.

That leaves the longest possible distance for a chicken to fly down without hitting the opposite wall, and it means the chickens on one roost cannot reach to peck chickens on the other roost (which matters if you end up with a bully and a victim, or if try to add chicks to adult hens at a later point, or just if some of the hens dislike each other.)