Filthy pullets

[burchy]

I live on a lake, but I won't use sand in my setup. Sand gets messy and wet and required constant cleaning, for me, anyways. It always smelled bad if not removed and replaced. Lots of work.



Yes, that it also what I would suggest. Add to that list wood chips if you can get them for free, or make your own with a chipper at home. Adding more inches of diverse material would be my first choice.



I have never heard of oak leaves being toxic to chickens. I have oak leaves mixed in with all my grass clippings, wood chips, pine needles, etc... and have never found anything toxic to the chickens.



You can add more pine needles, but I would also encourage you to add more of the other materials as well. A diverse litter has many advantages over a single type of material for your chicken run.



Yep. Chickens will dust bathe, so you have to learn to live with that. I have a White Californian chicken that looks more grey after a good dust bathing.



It's only temporary. Don't get upset that the chickens are taking care of themselves. Unless you are taking them to a show, I would not be concerned about them looking 'filthy' after they dust bathe.

Also, I have found that when the pullets get older, they preen themselves clean better. Is it just my belief that pullets resemble human teenagers in that respect?

teenagers

 

[3KillerBs]

Also, I have found that when the pullets get older, they preen themselves clean better. Is it just my belief that pullets resemble human teenagers in that respect?

Yes!

 

[EggSighted4Life]

I won't use sand in my setup. Sand gets messy and wet and required constant cleaning, for me, anyways. It always smelled bad if not removed and replaced. Lots of work.

I live on the coast in the PNW where humidity never ends and rain is a guarantee.. I hated the sand, it never dried out on my droppings board. My covered run would stink to high heaven around the edges when the rain would start.

I added "semi" deep litter (cold composting) on top of said sand base inside my (biggest) coop and run (leaving the droppings board empty still allows for easy waste removal).. aiming to resemble the forest floor where I remove most seen solid waste. Actually more like what that link posted by 3killerBs is calling deep bedding.. I hadn't seen that distinction before! Sand is heavy and it is indeed a lot of work and also doesn't compost well. I don't recommend it as a coop/run base but think a little in a dust bath is fine if your birds enjoy it.

But if you look at bare dirt or sand (just for discussion, not what the OP actually has) you can see the wetness where something soaked in after you remove the solid waste. Peewew.

 

[burchy]

I live on the coast in the PNW where humidity never ends and rain is a guarantee.. I hated the sand, it never dried out on my droppings board. My covered run would stink to high heaven around the edges when the rain would start.

I added "semi" deep litter (cold composting) on top of said sand base inside my (biggest) coop and run (leaving the droppings board empty still allows for easy waste removal).. aiming to resemble the forest floor where I remove most seen solid waste. Actually more like what that link posted by 3killerBs is calling deep bedding.. I hadn't seen that distinction before! Sand is heavy and it is indeed a lot of work and also doesn't compost well. I don't recommend it as a coop/run base but think a little in a dust bath is fine if your birds enjoy it.

But if you look at bare dirt or sand (just for discussion, not what the OP actually has) you can see the wetness where something soaked in after you remove the solid waste. Peewew.

 

[burchy]

Well that’s more than one vote on not using sand so I’ll just add the dried leaves and grass and turn it all when needed.

 

[Coops Dad]

Not our chickens but our turkeys- I have a few that will dirtbathe to the point that they'll double their weight with dirt, dust, pebbles, etc worked into their feathers. I didn't realize how much debris they can retain in their feathers until one fluffed her feathers shook herself out. I swear it looked like a shovelful came off of her.

I have a few hens that will wade belly-deep through storm puddles looking for worms and insects trying to escape the water. They invariably look like they lost a mud wrestling contest but it doesn't seem to bother them. It all comes off eventually and it doesn't stop them from laying so I'm ok with it.

 

[gtaus]

Well that’s more than one vote on not using sand so I’ll just add the dried leaves and grass and turn it all when needed.

The chickens will naturally turn the litter scratching and pecking as they look for bugs and worms to eat. If any area needs more attention, I'll just throw some chicken scratch on top of that area and the chickens will turn it over themselves as they scratch and peck for the treats. Depending on how many chickens you have, you might never have to turn over the material yourself.

If you build up enough litter in the run, you essentially create a cold composting system. That's what I do in my chicken run. All my leaves, wood chips, grass clippings, and just about anything else organic gets thrown into the run. My litter is about 12 inches deep right now, full of bugs and worms, and provides hours and hours of free range feeding for my chickens.

More to your specific concerns about sand, when I used sand it was constant work to take out the old, smelly sand and replace it with fresh, clean sand. If you decide to go with organic litter material, you basically just leave it in place and add more material to it. My chicken run compost system never smells, and the longer I keep the material in the run, the better the compost becomes.

This spring, I have harvested more than $200.00 worth of chicken run compost for my gardens. I used to buy compost from the big box stores at about $5.00 per bag, but since I converted my chicken run into a composting system 3 years ago, I have not had to buy any commercial bagged compost. So, using organic material in the run has saved me hours and hours of labor in cleaning out the old sand, but also has saved me literally hundreds of dollars in chicken made compost for my gardens.

WARNNG Since I now make so much chicken run compost in my backyard, I have doubled the amount of gardens I grow food in. Additionally, I get far more production from those gardens using my chicken run compost. I end up giving away excess food at the end of the year. Having composting chickens has really increased the amount of food I am able to grow at home. Each year, I have been adding more raised beds to use up some of my chicken run compost, and I still have way more compost in the run than I can use. That's a good problem for me.