Don't know what to use for ground cover in pen

[mtnhomechick]

I use straw in the coop and in the pen also. A friend who grew up on a farm said the straw for the pen is a waste. Well, naturally there use to be grass there but it's long gone. So I put straw down.

Is that right or wrong?

When it's really hot down here in Arkansas, I put ice in the water a couple times a day and hang refrigerated corn on the cob or cabbage or lettuce for them. Otherwise, I feed them layer crumbles and cracked corn.

Does this sound alright?

I'm a newbie at this and would appreciate any suggestions.

TIA

 

[Cassandra]

I think it sounds fine. I have been using dry pine needles for litter in my chicken pen. It works great.

I think I'm going to have the same trouble as you with the heat this summer. But I like the idea of hanging refrigerated veggies as a cool treat.

Cassandra

 

[mtnhomechick]

I freeze ice in used cottage cheese containers and put it in the hanging waterers. It fits through the top real good and it hopefully helps them a bit.....I don't like to see them panting. Poor girls!! I also keep a fan running in the coop.

I have a hard time with heat and humidity........maybe that's why I do this.

 

[lavacaw]

Sometimes, I rake all the oak leaves (bags and bags of them) and dump them in the pen...the chickens love scratching through them to uncover bugs and seeds and what not...then periodically I rake the chicken pen and put the stuff in the garden. It's a win-win thing!

 

[can you hear me now?]

Instead of straw i use hay, or grass clippings from my side yards. Then i rake them out and put them in a pile for compost in which i lime and use in the garden the next year.

 

[mtnhomechick]

I forgot to mention that I use grass clippings too. How often should the pen be cleaned???

I clean the pen once a week and the coop about every two weeks. A friend told me to clean the coop once a year.......does that sound right?

That dirty straw sure makes good fertilizer. My dh can't wait to get it when I clean.

 

[Curlita]

I'm a newbie myself and I have straw in my run as well, and in the coop. I've been scraping the "nightsoil" (my chickens are very Victorian) out of their coop in the mornings and add fresh straw if it looks necessary, but haven't done anything with the straw in the run.

I'm interested in other answers to this question.... It seems like it would take a while before the straw in the run needs replacing.

 

[chickenlickin8]

My coop is 12 ft long, 4 ft wide with partial concrete floor. I use a combination of cypress mulch and pine shavings a couple of inches deep so they can scratch. It absorbs moisture and smells nice!

 

[seminolewind]

I have sand in my runs. The added bonus is that the sand dries out the poop real fast, so there's hardly anything to clean up.

I clean my coop every few weeks. I scoop out all the shavings under the roost, then rake shavings towards the roost from the "clean" side, then refill on the clean side.

 

[sundance]

I use a thick layer of hay in the coop and nest boxes, and use wheat straw couple timesa week for them in the run. They free range from about 5 pm to bedtime , and thehay goes in the garden. marrie