Drainage and cleaning...

[Trevorusn]

Yeah, well. Most of that is hogwash.

PDZ absorbs ammonia, DE just does nothing much in most situations.
I would not recommend sand in your climate, it'll freeze solid in the winter.



Any moisture will 'feed' organisms, water is life, and in some places you want to keep things as dry as possible to keep the bad bugs from proliferating. Even if you squeegee, that wood and the ground under it will stay damp. Not good for chickens, and their 'odors'. Wet poops stink.

You'll need to think about the long term 'big picture', for now and over winter.
Those prefab 'dollhouse' coops can be very hard to maintain in a harsh climate.
Is there a larger run than what is under the coop/run combo shown?


What kind of bedding you use may depend on how you manage the manure.
This is about cleaning, but covers my big picture

-I use poop boards under roosts with thin(<1/2") layer of sand/PDZ mix, sifted daily(takes 5-10mins) into bucket going to friends compost.

-Scrape big or wet poops off roost and ramps as needed.

-Pine shavings on coop floor, add some occasionally, totally changed out once or twice a year, old shavings added to run.

-Runs have semi-deep litter, never clean anything out, just add smaller dry materials on occasion, add larger wood chippings as needed.

-Nests are bedded with straw, add some occasionally, change out if needed(broken egg).

There is no odor, unless a fresh cecal has been dropped and when I open the bucket to add more poop.

That's how I keep it 'clean', have not found any reason to clean 'deeper' in 5 years.

So if I understand correctly, you only replace the coop bedding 1-2 times a year using pine shavings, but basically leave the run alone? Basically the deep litter method, correct?? I am game for that, I just always thought it would stink though and lead to pests or whatnot, plus the wood shavings never seemed to dry once exposed to a good amount of precipitation. As for run size, they free range when we are home but I was planning on adding an addition as they get older, or getting an all new larger coop/ run built.

 

[PirateGirl]

I squeegee it out and it dries fairly quickly. I always thought it harmful to leave it all in there, but glad to know if combined with sand it won't become a biohazard to the chicks. I was originally going to put a layer of dirt over the boards but thoughr that might encourage dampness and be difficult to clean out.

Out to where? I guess I'm envisioning that you wash out this coop and all the poop water either drains below the floor boards and collects there or around the perimeter of the enclosure. Without the help of the chickens to break this down, you are likely going to have a lot of ammonia build up in these areas over time and eventually it may become a stinky mess.

 

[aart]

So if I understand correctly, you only replace the coop bedding 1-2 times a year using pine shavings, but basically leave the run alone? Basically the deep litter method, correct?? I am game for that, I just always thought it would stink though and lead to pests or whatnot, plus the wood shavings never seemed to dry once exposed to a good amount of precipitation. As for run size, they free range when we are home but I was planning on adding an addition as they get older, or getting an all new larger coop/ run built.

Inside my coop is not really 'deep litter'(which to me is a hot composting situation) more like 'deep bedding', tho it's not really that deep, just a few inches of pine shavings...but it's dry. Both those terms are misused and misunderstood.
http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1075545/can-i-do-deep-litter-method-with-this-coop#post_16440037
I get away with swapping out all shavings 1-2 times a year because of cleaning the poop boards every day.


My runs have semi-deep litter(cold composting), never clean anything out, just add smaller dry materials on occasion, add larger wood chippings as needed.
Aged ramial wood chippings are best base material IMO.

 

[Trevorusn]

Out to where? I guess I'm envisioning that you wash out this coop and all the poop water either drains below the floor boards and collects there or around the perimeter of the enclosure. Without the help of the chickens to break this down, you are likely going to have a lot of ammonia build up in these areas over time and eventually it may become a stinky mess.

It actually goes down a little hill into the woods, but given the advice I think this will be my last washing lol.

 

[PirateGirl]

It actually goes down a little hill into the woods, but given the advice I think this will be my last washing lol.

Ah, yes, if it get spread about like that it doesn’t sound as bad. I envisioned a stagnant puddle of water under the floorboards!

 

[Trevorusn]

Inside my coop is not really 'deep litter'(which to me is a hot composting situation) more like 'deep bedding', tho it's not really that deep, just a few inches of pine shavings...but it's dry. Both those terms are misused and misunderstood.
http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1075545/can-i-do-deep-litter-method-with-this-coop#post_16440037
I get away with swapping out all shavings 1-2 times a year because of cleaning the poop boards every day.


My runs have semi-deep litter(cold composting), never clean anything out, just add smaller dry materials on occasion, add larger wood chippings as needed.
Aged ramial wood chippings are best base material IMO.

How do you prevent precipitation from saturating it? Does it dry fairly quickly if it does get wet?? I like the sound of this.

 

[Trevorusn]

Ah, yes, if it get spread about like that it doesn’t sound as bad. I envisioned a stagnant puddle of water under the floorboards!

Lol, I'm green but not that green! The boards are fairly tight, and the sun and wind hit the areas that get wet fairly well, but most of it I broom out and downhill.

 

[aart]

How do you prevent precipitation from saturating it? Does it dry fairly quickly if it does get wet?? I like the sound of this.

It doesn't matter if my run gets wet....the coop is dry.

 

[rosemarythyme]

So if I understand correctly, you only replace the coop bedding 1-2 times a year using pine shavings, but basically leave the run alone? Basically the deep litter method, correct?? I am game for that, I just always thought it would stink though and lead to pests or whatnot, plus the wood shavings never seemed to dry once exposed to a good amount of precipitation.

I also only replace my coop bedding (deep bedding, using wood chips) twice a year but a key factor in this is the size of the coop, style of coop and poop management. Your coop is too small for infrequent replacement of bedding, no matter how good you are at managing poop. Back when I was using a prefab the longest I could go without a full cleanout was maybe a month, and that's if the bedding stayed dry (which was only in the summer).

My current coop stays completely dry inside (raised wood floor, no waterer in the coop, etc) so as long as I stay on top of picking up poop under the roost area, the bedding remains pretty clean and dry until it's time for cleaning out. I could probably extend it out to a yearly cleaning if I wanted to.

 

[Trevorusn]

It doesn't matter if my run gets wet....the coop is dry.

I understand the coop part, mine stays dry too. I was curious on the run "flooring" with the ramial wood chippings, if it gets saturated how long does it take to naturally dry out, and is it mositure resistant, which it sounds like it is.