Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Ponypoor]

“Help, help. I have fleas. I’m sorry but I can’t help it when I’m out there in the yard.
Daddy won’t hold me safe, if I have those things on me! Oops here comes daddy, gotta go!”View attachment 3635034

Is that flea or flee?! Run quick!

 

[lightm]

Advice request - if anyone cares to opine I’d appreciate it:

Haul out and replace all the covered run floor litter material, or leave this and build it up even higher, to create a floor of litter - a forest floor essentially - deep enough and high enough to not get wet from below? Is that even possible to do, and is it safe for the chickens?

What’s in there now is wood (ramial) chips/ TSC large wood shavings, / collected leaves & twigs / chopped hemp / a little bit of rice hulls /whatnot added through the year.

Two corners of the covered run are getting consistently really wet. Only one corner is consistently dry. Partly due to the leaking roof I think, which I’m going to hopefully rectify (tarp underneath so that the leaks run off is DH-approved Plan A, Plan B is @bgmathteach 's idea to silicone seal all 240 screws, a difficult ladder-intensive but possibly effective solution).

I’m pretty sure a lot of the water is from the ground below not draining well. We’ve had a serious amount of rain here in the northeast exacerbating this situation. In winter any surface water flows on top of the frozen ground too. Today after a rainy spell I saw standing water just outside the run near one of the corners.

Last winter whenever the snow melted some, I would sometimes see the litter getting damp, and digging down some I could see water. I’d add more stuff on top to keep everyone dry, also because when it got cold again the wet stuff would freeze up hard.

My usual plan every year has been to hoe out the litter in the Fall, and replace a lot of it and add as the year goes on. It does make great mulch.

This summer one corner has been sprouting mushrooms, I think the ramial chips I used are old and perfect mushroom material, and this concerns me so I’ve been raking them out when I spot them. I don’t want to be growing mold! Basically the litter is composting before my eyes. This is what a forest floor does. Could I or should I build or not build on this?

Seems to me also it’s a good idea to not have chickens potentially scratching around in years and years of accumulated poop that for a large part of the run can’t really wash away and be exposed to good sunlight? Would poop-borne diseases be concentrating? This run goes from nice dry spots to the wet composted spots.

I have no problem with the time & labor of hoeing it out and putting the great mulch on the gardens and blueberries. I recall this is what @rural mouse did this year. It’s a big job but do-able over a few days, did it last year and the year before. I also can buy or haul as much replacement litter I need to make a pretty deep litter floor. I will look for newer ramial chips if I use them (more than a year old but not growing weeds already).

What would you all do?

I suppose I would haul out and replace the litter since it can be used as mulch/compost in the garden.

How often would you be doing this? Once a year? Twice a year? Monthly?

Two days ago I sort of did the haul out thing, but it was a small load. Then I placed some leaves there.

 

[SimpleJenn]

Hopefully we have a dry day soon so I can change the bedding in the coop. I was planning on dumping the used stuff into the run, happy to read I don't have to spread it for them.

Today when giving them some scratchies Liara made the cutest little "chirrrit" type sound. All the other chicks swarmed her when she did too.

 

[featherhead007]

Is that flea or flee?! Run quick!

Stick tight FLEAS

 

[BY Bob]

Get a Cream Legbar. Now. You will have zero regrets. Blue Eggs. You know you need one.

I have a frost legbar. Same difference.

 

[knoturavggrl]

I suppose I would haul out and replace the litter since it can be used as mulch/compost in the garden.

How often would you be doing this? Once a year? Twice a year? Monthly?

Two days ago I sort of did the haul out thing, but it was a small load. Then I placed some leaves there.

I do deep litter in my coop, not quite the same as doing it in a run but I may have some helpful tips.

Damp underneath is actually a good thing in the case of deep litter it helps the litter and poop breakdown much like compost does. I do clean it out twice a year but I do not take it completely down to the ground, instead I leave about an inch so the microbes can restart. I wet it down with hose at this time and then I put the fresh wood chips on top to approximately 12” deep. Then about every two weeks I put down 2 bags of new chips. I find this method to be wonderful, it never stinks and requires very little maintenance except 2 times a year. I add straw layers in the middle of winter if I can find it to add some warmth.

I hope this helps.

 

[bgmathteach]

Stick tight FLEAS

Well, that makes much more sense, as it is very hard to flee when you are stuck tight

Flee? Did someone say 'Flee?" Okay, we're outta here!

 

[featherhead007]

I do deep litter in my coop, not quite the same as doing it in a run but I may have some helpful tips.

Damp underneath is actually a good thing in the case of deep litter it helps the litter and poop breakdown much like compost does. I do clean it out twice a year but I do not take it completely down to the ground, instead I leave about an inch so the microbes can restart. I wet it down with hose at this time and then I put the fresh wood chips on top to approximately 12” deep. Then about every two weeks I put down 2 bags of new chips. I find this method to be wonderful, it never stinks and requires very little maintenance except 2 times a year. I add straw layers in the middle of winter if I can find it to add some warmth.

I hope this helps.

Do you think you could come over and show me the proper way to make my coop clean ? I’m deep litter two years of build up. I have only removed the top layer (poop and dampness)

 

[featherhead007]

Well, that makes much more sense, as it is very hard to flee when you are stuck tight

View attachment 3635095View attachment 3635096
Flee? Did someone say 'Flee?" Okay, we're outta here!

 

[notabitail]

I have a frost legbar. Same difference.

You need one. How many times do I need to emphasize the RELIABLE BLUE EGG supply?
These things lay consistent blue eggs. You need one.