Do I need bedding ?

[Got13now]

I posted earlier about my coop floor getting wet. I was asked about condensation. Also asked for pictures. I can’t get pictures cause I am fighting my disorder crisis. Also, it’s raining and going to rain another 4 days. Well, the coop is 8x10 6 ft tall, wood floor 2 ft off the ground with a 2x8 wire area under the roost. The remaining floor covered with linoleum.I have a soffit vent up high and food & water outside under the coop overhang.
I think it’s condensation from hot/cold temperatures on the metal roof but the roof has a pitch so that should drip at the gutter and to the rain barrel. I have to look for condensation drips around the rafters. I guess.
My plan though is to close in the floor at the wire and install rubber trays that I can remove and clean. That should stop dampness to the floor if that’s the cause.
My girls are free from 7am till dark. They all slumber on the roost at night. Most of the day they are scavenger hunting deployment or in the run sleeping under the coop. I used chicken wire over the top of the run (hawks) and chicken wire around the bottom of coop to keep out squirrels and welded fence for run perimeter. At night the girls are locked up in the coop all doors secure. The coop is new construction, 16 gauge nails , glued and screwed. Caulked and painted. It’s not bear proof but neither is my front door.
Oh ! Sorry ! Almost forgot my question. I fight to keep bedding in the nesting boxes. The girls are not ready to know how to lay a egg yet . They go on my porches, in the garage, in the sheds EVERYWHERE!
So, do they really need any bedding ? How many chickens should be my limit. I have 11 girls and 2 clumsy boys.

 

[azygous]

This is a complex post, chock full of details I'm going to pass on. The main question, though, needs addressing: bedding in the coop. To narrow it down even further, bedding under the roosting perches. This is crucially important.

Why is bedding under the perches important? Because improper bedding means improper cushioning for chicken feet. Have you ever tried jumping out of the back of a pickup onto a hard ground with bare feet? If not, try it. You'll find it hurts. A lot. Maybe you even come away with bruised feet.

Chicken feet are soft tissue just like your bare feet. They get bruised, and continue to get bruised over and over when they hop off a perch onto bare wood. This is how bumblefoot starts. Injured feet continuing to be injured eventually get infected, usually with staph bacteria entering through abrasions. Once it gets started, staph is brutally difficult to get rid of. It attacks any inflamed tissue. Bad infections can spread into the bones and cause crippling and death.

So, yes, bedding is a critical component in a coop. Especially a nice thick amount under the roosts.

 

[Got13now]

This is a complex post, chock full of details I'm going to pass on. The main question, though, needs addressing: bedding in the coop. To narrow it down even further, bedding under the roosting perches. This is crucially important.

Why is bedding under the perches important? Because improper bedding means improper cushioning for chicken feet. Have you ever tried jumping out of the back of a pickup onto a hard ground with bare feet? If not, try it. You'll find it hurts. A lot. Maybe you even come away with bruised feet.

Chicken feet are soft tissue just like your bare feet. They get bruised, and continue to get bruised over and over when they hop off a perch onto bare wood. This is how bumblefoot starts. Injured feet continuing to be injured eventually get infected, usually with staph bacteria entering through abrasions. Once it gets started, staph is brutally difficult to get rid of. It attacks any inflamed tissue. Bad infections can spread into the bones and cause crippling and death.

So, yes, bedding is a critical component in a coop. Especially a nice thick amount under the roosts.

Wow. Thank you for the information. So glad I asked. I was thinking rubber mats cause I wanted to be able to clean easily. Right now whenever they jump off the roost, they jump towards the door on all the straw. I never saw them just hop straight down. What about waterproofed foam under the rubber mats ?

 

[DickMidnight]

why do you have wire under the roosts? it seems like it wouldn’t be in any way helpful.

rubber mats will exacerbate your moisture problem, as moisture will seep under and be unable to dry.

a thick layer of pine shavings is your best bet. they will absorb moisture and are the easiest to clean, as you just shovel out the old and shovel in the new.

 

[perkolator]

Without any pics it's hard to give advice.
Sounds like the wire section is open flooring to let their poop fall under the coop?
Humidity and condensation are a thing, even with pitch the roof can still have drips here and there depending on how much condensation. Ventilation may help, but it's winter and it's just something to have to deal with at this time of year.
I agree stall mats will just trap moisture underneath them and not resolve anything. Personally, I'd make the floor solid over the mesh and use whatever baffling necessary to contain bedding material on the coop floor, nest boxes included. Baffles at openings/doorways are key to keeping bedding from being kicked around.

 

[Got13now]

Without any pics it's hard to give advice.
Sounds like the wire section is open flooring to let their poop fall under the coop?
Humidity and condensation are a thing, even with pitch the roof can still have drips here and there depending on how much condensation. Ventilation may help, but it's winter and it's just something to have to deal with at this time of year.
I agree stall mats will just trap moisture underneath them and not resolve anything. Personally, I'd make the floor solid over the mesh and use whatever baffling necessary to contain bedding material on the coop floor, nest boxes included. Baffles at openings/doorways are key to keeping bedding from being kicked around.

Yes, the wire is for the poop to fall to another area which I clean. I thought the metal roof condensation will alway cause some moisture. I was trying to find another solution because I have someone who loves to move all the straw into a big heap in a corner and roost on it. I even put sold flakes from the bales down rather than pulling the bales apart and scattering, the next day, all the straw in a corner again. I used 2 bales that time. How would baffles help ?

 

[Got13now]

The person at the supply store said use straw instead of shavings cause that chicken did the same thing to the shavings.
This chicken is DUMB. It can’t get on the roost. It can’t follow the flock to get past the run gate and it forgets how to go into the coop at night. It often is running around the yard freaking out because it lost the other chickens. I am always running outside to save it. Just brought her inside because she was constantly pecking on the glass door.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I posted earlier about my coop floor getting wet.

Until you know where the moisture is coming from you really don't know how to fix the problem. You water outside so that is not the source. Does this only happen when it rains? If so, either you have a leak or rain is blowing in somewhere. The floor is raised so it's not rainwater runoff. Condensation is another possible source. You are supporting that metal roof somehow. Wherever it is supported is a likely place for it to drip.

I fight to keep bedding in the nesting boxes. The girls are not ready to know how to lay a egg yet . They go on my porches, in the garage, in the sheds EVERYWHERE!

So they are laying, just not in the nests? Frustrating. Do you have fake eggs in the nests, I use golf balls? That's nt0 a guarantee that they will start using the nests but it can help.

Again photos of the nests can help but that's not going to happen. Chickens scratch. When I had this problem before I raised the lip on the nest a few inches to make it harder for t5hem to scratch the bedding, fake eggs, and real eggs out.

How many chickens should be my limit. I have 11 girls and 2 clumsy boys.

That's a hard question to accurately answer. Your climate, management techniques, goals, and many other things have an effect on that. You might follow the link in my signature below to get some of my thoughts on room. It sounds like you free range and where you are they should be able to be outside practically all day every day. Those both take pressure off of coop space so you can manage better than some others. I find the more I crowd them the more behavioral problems I have to deal with, the harder I have to work, and the less flexibility I have to deal with problems as they arise. Some people like to work harder. My stress levels are a lot less if I have flexibility to deal with issues, some people seem to live for drama. You should be able to handle some more but I can't come up with a specific number.

 

[3KillerBs]

I think it’s condensation from hot/cold temperatures on the metal roof but the roof has a pitch so that should drip at the gutter and to the rain barrel. I have to look for condensation drips around the rafters. I guess.

Ventilation moving air freely under the roof is one way to deal with condensation. Like this,

Or,

However, in some climates that isn't sufficient and you'll need to install a thermal break of some kind so that rising warm, moist air from the chickens doesn't directly contact the metal. This is the one time that insulating a chicken coop not located near the Arctic is useful -- insulating the underside of the roof in this sort of situation.

I'd try increasing the ventilation as illustrated first because it's almost certainly easier and less expensive.

As for the bedding question,

A good thick layer of dry organic material serves to absorb moisture from the birds' poop so as to dry it out and keep conditions sanitary, to cushion the birds' feet when they come down off the roost, to give them something to dig and scratch through in order to satisfy their instincts, to give them a place to snuggle into when they rest, ...