FLORIDA!!!!!ALWAYS SUNNY SIDE UP!!!

[dawg53]

Sand is your best bet. Sand dries quicker than mud, doesnt wash away, deters parasites, doesnt leave nasty mud puddles that chicken love to drink from. Think beach.

 

[Araucana Nest]

Hi all - new to BYC. Live in Venice, which is coastal South Florida. We are just starting to keep 4 hens. Need to figure out the best way to handle a partially covered run. It sits under a big oak tree, so it is going to get wet from the rain. The area that the coop sits in doesn't flood and will drain well.

Any suggestions on whether or not to use litter in the run? Looking to soak up all the great advice from those that have come before. Thanks!

Second the sand. On top of the sand you can place coastal hay. It doesn’t soak up water but will give your hens a dry place to walk in when it pours. The hay can then be used to mulch your fruit trees and plants.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I'm a fan of deep litter, partciularly if you are already under a tree. Oak leaves make great litter. Both straw (which I use in my nesting boxes) and pine needles can matt down and hold water, shouldn't be used to exclusion. If you go with straight sand, its a lot of maintenance to rake it constantly and remove the droppings. Otherwise, the poops will mix with the sand and create a hard, concrete-like substance that will block water from percolating thru the soils and quite the stench when it later gets wet in the rain.

 

[dawg53]

I'm a fan of deep litter, partciularly if you are already under a tree. Oak leaves make great litter. Both straw (which I use in my nesting boxes) and pine needles can matt down and hold water, shouldn't be used to exclusion. If you go with straight sand, its a lot of maintenance to rake it constantly and remove the droppings. Otherwise, the poops will mix with the sand and create a hard, concrete-like substance that will block water from percolating thru the soils and quite the stench when it later gets wet in the rain.

Not true. Sand is easy to maintain. No need to rake or do any of that extra work you mentioned. A small shovel and dust pan is easy to scoop and dump in a bucket. It does NOT create a concrete-like substance that blocks water. Have you ever been to the beach? Tell us, where does the water go at a sandy beach? There's no stench unless there's dead seagull laying around somewhere.

Let me tell you about deep litter: It is a hotbed for capillary worms and other types of worms. Dont believe me? Look it up.
I've been doing this for a long time. Been there, done that.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Not true. Sand is easy to maintain. No need to rake or do any of that extra work you mentioned. A small shovel and dust pan is easy to scoop and dump in a bucket. It does NOT create a concrete-like substance that blocks water. Have you ever been to the beach? Tell us, where does the water go at a sandy beach? There's no stench unless there's dead seagull laying around somewhere.

Let me tell you about deep litter: It is a hotbed for capillary worms and other types of worms. Dont believe me? Look it up.
I've been doing this for a long time. Been there, done that.

Dawg, I grew up on the "worlds greatest beach". As a fellow Floridiot, you should know where that is. Yes, I'm well familiar with the substance - the floor of my VW Beetle, where it wasn't rusted out, used to be covered with the stuff. After two decades, I moved to the Tampa St. Pete area, the sand there isn't near so nice. A trip to TX (not fond), and now in the Panhandle (sandy clays and clay-y sands). I've backpacked the sugar sands of the Ocala National Forest some unknown number of miles, likely in the high hundreds.

Sand works for some owners. Mostly those who clean frequently or use droppings boards so they don't have to. It does not work for many others. My own experiences with it have been miserable, its simply not practical for the size of my runs. Where droppings concentrated, it would be washed into the sand - then when we went rain free for weeks it got rock hard. Only to stink when it then got wet. Some portion of that, I know, is due to the clay content of my soils - which aggravate the situation, but are not the exclusive cause.

and yes, I'm familiar with thread worms. OP said their area drained well, I was not inviting them to deep litter their way into a fetid rotting swamp of anaerobically decaying leaf matter, with all the problems that brings. Had they suggested it didn't drain well, my first suggestion would have been swales, berms, and other landscaping methods to divert, control, and otherwise shed water from the run. Neither is sand an exclusive remedy for control of thread worms. "The Chicken Chick", for instance, replaces all the sand in her at least run yearly.

There is no one good answer for everyone. Straight sugar sand, free of organics, can be a useful material for chicken keeping, if maintained properly. I did not imagine the sand under her oak tree, with the detritus of the oak itself mixing in,to be such a sand. Perhaps I was mistaken. Perhaps not.

 

[dawg53]

Dawg, I grew up on the "worlds greatest beach". As a fellow Floridiot, you should know where that is. Yes, I'm well familiar with the substance - the floor of my VW Beetle, where it wasn't rusted out, used to be covered with the stuff. After two decades, I moved to the Tampa St. Pete area, the sand there isn't near so nice. A trip to TX (not fond), and now in the Panhandle (sandy clays and clay-y sands). I've backpacked the sugar sands of the Ocala National Forest some unknown number of miles, likely in the high hundreds.

Sand works for some owners. Mostly those who clean frequently or use droppings boards so they don't have to. It does not work for many others. My own experiences with it have been miserable, its simply not practical for the size of my runs. Where droppings concentrated, it would be washed into the sand - then when we went rain free for weeks it got rock hard. Only to stink when it then got wet. Some portion of that, I know, is due to the clay content of my soils - which aggravate the situation, but are not the exclusive cause.

and yes, I'm familiar with thread worms. OP said their area drained well, I was not inviting them to deep litter their way into a fetid rotting swamp of anaerobically decaying leaf matter, with all the problems that brings. Had they suggested it didn't drain well, my first suggestion would have been swales, berms, and other landscaping methods to divert, control, and otherwise shed water from the run. Neither is sand an exclusive remedy for control of thread worms. "The Chicken Chick", for instance, replaces all the sand in her at least run yearly.

There is no one good answer for everyone. Straight sugar sand, free of organics, can be a useful material for chicken keeping, if maintained properly. I did not imagine the sand under her oak tree, with the detritus of the oak itself mixing in,to be such a sand. Perhaps I was mistaken. Perhaps not.

You're not even saying Florida correctly. It's Flarda!

 

[U_Stormcrow]

You're not even saying Florida correctly. It's Flarda!

Its all the damned tourists. We have an accent all our own, and joke that we have to drive north to reach the deep South.

Glen St Mary. is that near the Publix Distribution center and the turnoff on 10 to head to Valdosta??? i'm almost certain i've seen it on a sign somewhere, but not between here and Talahassee.

 

[Mama_rama]

Hi! I just replied to this in a long post in another thread, but to reiterate, I am coastal (close enough to smell the tides), urban /suburban lot with close neighbors, and under a massive oak tree, which sounds very similar to your situation. During heavy downpours, my area (not the run though) puddles, but ALWAYS drains. Imo, placing sand over the current substrate (which is natural soil, roots, leaves, pollen, etc) would inhibit drainage and cause more harm than good. I am a user and proponent of the deep litter method in my coop and have not had issues at all with wet or soggy substrate, even though my Eglu Cube MK2 is not fully covered from the elements. Even when I break out the hose to tidy up around the edges of the coop/run/range area, the water drains and any dampness dries up within a day. My advice is pine shavings and deep litter method!

 

[FloriDUH JBot]

Thanks everyone for all of the great suggestions. As mentioned, our run sits under a giant scrub oak - so falling organic matter is going to be a fact of life. With that said, the soil drains very well and doesn't hold water. Being so far south and coastal, clay isn't an issue.

Sounds like a little trial and error, dependent on your specific conditions.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Sounds like a little trial and error, dependent on your specific conditions.

THIS! ^^^

Give it 6 mo, let us know what ends up working out best for you.