Dusty Run

[K0k0shka]

We are new to chickens, coops and runs, and this is extremely informative! I had read about adding leaves and Pine needles from my yard so I have done that but our daughter who is my “co-chicken raiser” didn’t want to add leaves. I will cut and paste and send this info to her so she’s on the same page with me.
Thanks again for your fabulous explanation!

Happy to help! Chickens are foragers and love digging through a variety of materials to look for bugs and worms. So in addition to a plant-based medium’s other benefits, you also have this. The chickens will enjoy it a lot more, and it will keep them more occupied! All kinds of things grow and hide in organic matter. But nothing really lives in sand, so from the point of view of the chicken, sand is boring.

 

[Jasfarm]

I love the 'forest floor' vibe in my run as well. I have a base of arborist wood chips that I toss in twice a year. In the fall I post on Facebook that I'll take leaves that folks inevitably bag up (we don't have leaf collection here) and I store about 8 bags in the basement for over the winter. Every 10 days or so I dump a nice dry bag of leaves into the run, which they love and it keeps things dry in most areas. The areas that do get a bit wet just help the leaves break down. Come early April, I'm telling you, I have the nicest compost to dig out of the run and toss on the garden to sit til June plantings.

Sounds like the forest floor is the way to go!

 

[Jasfarm]

There are different kinds of sand. River sand has larger particles therefore less dust. I only use it in the open run. It helps with drainage and prevents me from slipping on the compact soil. (12hens & 2 ducks). Inside the coop I place cut opened feed bags under the roosts. This way every few days (or on warmer days in the winter) I can harvest the poop for the compost. It has really helped to save on the amount of pine shavings we go through. I use bricks to keep the bags in place. I would be cautious about using straw and leaves in the coop or enclosed area as mold can build up as the matter becomes compacted. There’s just not enough air circulation as noted by the dust build up. The shaving matter is easier to be kicked around by the birds thereby being aerated. I only put down straw in the run after snowfall so they will leave the coop for exercise and fresh air. Good luck!

Thank you! We have course sand as well (love it) makes it so much easier to scoop and they love to dust bathe in it. We definitely thought we had enough ventilation as the whole roof area is open (covered with hardware cloth of course)

 

[thecatumbrella]

Wanted to update on the ventilation discussion from this thread. I took down all my winter panels (again ) and cut an additional 6 inches off the top. We had a SUPER foggy morning, and the panels looked almost completely clear. They did fog up towards the end of the day once the rain came in and temps rose to the mid 50's.

Should I keep trimming them down? The panels weren't cheap, so I'm apprehensive about cutting too much off unnecessarily.

@Jasfarm how is your ventilation situation going?

 

[ChicoryBlue]

If it fogs up, then it's closed too much. The fog isn't from the snow or rain, it's condensation from the warm moist air that's building up inside the enclosure, hitting the cold plastic and condensing on it. Means the humidity in there is too high and needs to vent out better. Definitely open it up more. As long as the walls are covered around chicken level, so the wind doesn't blow directly on them, you can leave the top foot or two open.

This is really helpful for me as well. We've had our panels fog up a couple times, and I thought we left adequate ventilation. I guess not!

Wanted to update on the ventilation discussion from this thread. I took down all my winter panels (again ) and cut an additional 6 inches off the top. We had a SUPER foggy morning, and the panels looked almost completely clear. They did fog up towards the end of the day once the rain came in and temps rose to the mid 50's.

Should I keep trimming them down? The panels weren't cheap, so I'm apprehensive about cutting too much off unnecessarily.

@Jasfarm how is your ventilation situation going?

I'm in central New York. We had a very wet summer. I have had two situations with fogging and I think there are two available reasons, and the thing is to figure out which is which. First, it could be you need more openings - but it may be you need to change the configuration of your openings. Second, it might be that when you've observed fogging, the humidity everywhere is very high, and it wouldn't make a difference what you did.

So the first scenario: yes, the fogging could be too high humidity in there. What I would suggest is think about it like coop ventilation. Because it's possible that the entire top open doesn't actually move air very well if it sits, trapped in there. So you might want to think about somewhere lower down to open that offers a way for air to move in and help push / draw the air up and out. But of course you don't want it directly blowing on anybody.

This is my approach, because I am in a fairly exposed location with very strong winds. I've got a lot of unbroken tarp on one side because my main exposure is northwest. But it isn't total. I've had to make some interior wind blocks, "diversions" where the breeze comes in, but then has to change direction, and hopefully slow, and doesn't blow directly through on the gang, but goes up and over them, or along the inside wall (I try to minimize strong breezes that way, but there are some). Then the upper side exits (East and South) are quite open. I don't have an "open sided" run, because we get such swirling snowy gales and it would let too much snow in. I don't want to shovel in there! But the biggest openings are on the East and South upper walls (what works for me).

The second scenario: this summer I hung some small clear plastic tarps like clothes on a clothesline, hung out in the wide-open forage area that's covered by aviary netting on greenhouse frames here and there and completely open on the sides. This was so that when it rained they might wash clean (it worked, sort of). They were summertime windbreaks and I was going to use them elsewhere when I winterized the runs. When I went out there on several days, everything was fogged, yes the run, but also and especially the tarps hung in the open. They remained foggy for hours. It was just so wet this summer here.

Just my two cents. Good luck!

 

[thecatumbrella]

I'm in central New York. We had a very wet summer. I have had two situations with fogging and I think there are two available reasons, and the thing is to figure out which is which. First, it could be you need more openings - but it may be you need to change the configuration of your openings. Second, it might be that when you've observed fogging, the humidity everywhere is very high, and it wouldn't make a difference what you did.

So the first scenario: yes, the fogging could be too high humidity in there. What I would suggest is think about it like coop ventilation. Because it's possible that the entire top open doesn't actually move air very well if it sits, trapped in there. So you might want to think about somewhere lower down to open that offers a way for air to move in and help push / draw the air up and out. But of course you don't want it directly blowing on anybody.

This is my approach, because I am in a fairly exposed location with very strong winds. I've got a lot of unbroken tarp on one side because my main exposure is northwest. But it isn't total. I've had to make some interior wind blocks, "diversions" where the breeze comes in, but then has to change direction, and hopefully slow, and doesn't blow directly through on the gang, but goes up and over them, or along the inside wall (I try to minimize strong breezes that way, but there are some). Then the upper side exits (East and South) are quite open. I don't have an "open sided" run, because we get such swirling snowy gales and it would let too much snow in. I don't want to shovel in there! But the biggest openings are on the East and South upper walls (what works for me).

The second scenario: this summer I hung some small clear plastic tarps like clothes on a clothesline, hung out in the wide-open forage area that's covered by aviary netting on greenhouse frames here and there and completely open on the sides. This was so that when it rained they might wash clean (it worked, sort of). They were summertime windbreaks and I was going to use them elsewhere when I winterized the runs. When I went out there on several days, everything was fogged, yes the run, but also and especially the tarps hung in the open. They remained foggy for hours. It was just so wet this summer here.

Just my two cents. Good luck!

This was a super helpful read, thank you! Based on what you said, I think moisture has a tendency to get trapped under our tarped roof. We are also getting an unsesaonable amount of humidity. I’ll look into adding some removable lower openings.

 

[Bonnieboo]

Oh! Thank you! I didn’t know this! Wood ash is going back in the garden

Just be careful where in the garden you put the wood ash. Wood ash is loaded with potassium (you may have used Potash in your garden to promote flower and fruit production) and excess potassium makes your soil very alkaline. If your soil is either too alkaline or acidic (see pH), plants won't be able to take up the available nutrients and will not thrive.
My husband (being unaware of this fact) emptied the contents of the fireplace into my vege garden and killed my parsley Now nothing can be planted there as the soil is just ruined. I would hate to see that happen to you.
Happy hen-keeping

 

[ChicoryBlue]

Just be careful where in the garden you put the wood ash. Wood ash is loaded with potassium (you may have used Potash in your garden to promote flower and fruit production) and excess potassium makes your soil very alkaline. If your soil is either too alkaline or acidic (see pH), plants won't be able to take up the available nutrients and will not thrive.
My husband (being unaware of this fact) emptied the contents of the fireplace into my vege garden and killed my parsley Now nothing can be planted there as the soil is just ruined. I would hate to see that happen to you.
Happy hen-keeping

Remove what ashes you can and then add soil acidifiers, in your case which sounds extreme that's what I'd do, and now, before planting season. You can buy them as add-in granules of various types for rhododendrons and blueberries, or if it's not too extreme certain mulches like lots of pine needles will do the trick but that takes more time. There are test kits to measure and be more scientific about it but I've never used those, just gone by leaf color.

 

[Jasfarm]

Wanted to update on the ventilation discussion from this thread. I took down all my winter panels (again ) and cut an additional 6 inches off the top. We had a SUPER foggy morning, and the panels looked almost completely clear. They did fog up towards the end of the day once the rain came in and temps rose to the mid 50's.

Should I keep trimming them down? The panels weren't cheap, so I'm apprehensive about cutting too much off unnecessarily.

@Jasfarm how is your ventilation situation going?

I’m in the same boat! We had them custom made so I think we are apprehensive about cutting them. I’m wondering if we just take one side and fold it down? I’m just so shocked the open roof isn’t enough.

Also, I did add leaves and some dirt for them to scratch at - a faux forest floor. They love it and I haven’t had a ton of dust! So maybe it’s a compromise??

 

[Jasfarm]

I'm in central New York. We had a very wet summer. I have had two situations with fogging and I think there are two available reasons, and the thing is to figure out which is which. First, it could be you need more openings - but it may be you need to change the configuration of your openings. Second, it might be that when you've observed fogging, the humidity everywhere is very high, and it wouldn't make a difference what you did.

So the first scenario: yes, the fogging could be too high humidity in there. What I would suggest is think about it like coop ventilation. Because it's possible that the entire top open doesn't actually move air very well if it sits, trapped in there. So you might want to think about somewhere lower down to open that offers a way for air to move in and help push / draw the air up and out. But of course you don't want it directly blowing on anybody.

This is my approach, because I am in a fairly exposed location with very strong winds. I've got a lot of unbroken tarp on one side because my main exposure is northwest. But it isn't total. I've had to make some interior wind blocks, "diversions" where the breeze comes in, but then has to change direction, and hopefully slow, and doesn't blow directly through on the gang, but goes up and over them, or along the inside wall (I try to minimize strong breezes that way, but there are some). Then the upper side exits (East and South) are quite open. I don't have an "open sided" run, because we get such swirling snowy gales and it would let too much snow in. I don't want to shovel in there! But the biggest openings are on the East and South upper walls (what works for me).

The second scenario: this summer I hung some small clear plastic tarps like clothes on a clothesline, hung out in the wide-open forage area that's covered by aviary netting on greenhouse frames here and there and completely open on the sides. This was so that when it rained they might wash clean (it worked, sort of). They were summertime windbreaks and I was going to use them elsewhere when I winterized the runs. When I went out there on several days, everything was fogged, yes the run, but also and especially the tarps hung in the open. They remained foggy for hours. It was just so wet this summer here.

Just my two cents. Good luck!

This is so helpful! Thank you! I think I’ll try adding some more space at the bottom to get it to flow up and out.