Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[RoyalChick]

Bedding is for beds. Wood ash in beds is not such a great idea imo. Ideal bedding should be as dust free as is practicable. Chicken do not do well breathing in dust, much like us humans.
Bedding on coop floors is imo something else to be avoided if possible.
There are a number of reasons for this.
It's a waste of bedding.
It may encourage chickens to sleep on the floor when they should be sleeping on roost bars.
Straw, hay and some other bedding harbout mites.
Something all chicken keepers should get used to doing is inspecting poop in the mornings after they've let the chickens out. If the floor is covered in bedding it is very easy to miss thos spots of blood or runny poops that indicated a health problem in the flock.
I've read a few advocates of "the deep litter" method of chicken keeping. No chicken would be an advocate of it. It's a human concept that wasn't well concieved. Chickens left to their own devises are very clean creatures. Thye would prefer to roost off the ground, preferably on a high branch. This means when they poop it drops to the floor and all those bugs and stuff on the floor clean the poop up over time. Worms, lice and other unpleasant complaints are often picked up from chickens eat where they have pooped. Keepers should do their utmost to prevent a build up of poop anywhere chickens are likely to scratch and peck. A large pile of poop laden bedding in a coop is a prime site for scrathing and pecking and therefor a prime site for parasites.
Keep the bedding for beds. Put the woodash ouutside if you must for bathing in. Keep the coop floors clean of bedding and poop. Your chickens will be a lot healthier for it.

I am with Shad on the ash - for bathing only and ideally not inside the coop.
I have to say though that deep litter works well for me and effectively mimics the forest floor which I think is the chickens' ancestral home.
My Chicken Palace is on dirt and I just add leaves. Dig down in the leaves and just like in the forest floor you have lovely loamy soil full of worms.
Not everyone can do it that way though because it does depend on being on a dirt floor and yet still predator protected which I think is what I have managed to construct
I don't see them sitting or sleeping on the floor and frankly they dig around much more outside the coop than in it so I don't think they are digging in their poop any more than is determined by the fact that they are restricted and therefore not moving to completely new ground each day.
I also think I am lucky in that my density is very low so each chicken has a load of space (more than 200 sq ft each if you include the yard).
But we both agree, ash has no place in bedding in the coop!

 

[BY Bob]

Last week I was lucky to get one egg, then I dropped it. So I went out and bought free range duck eggs

That's a good solution.

 

[Shadrach]

Twenty three chickens in here?!!!! Is it bigger than it looks Shad? Are you expanding it? I have that many chickens & coop space is much, much larger. ​

View attachment 2858799

Nope, it's exactly as it looks. The small coop at the back was originally I believe meant as a broody coop/nest box. Now two or three hens sleep there if it gets to stressful in the main coop. The rooster and three hens sleep on a roost bar that you can't quite see that runs accross the closest corner of the coop run you can see in the picture.

 

[RoyalChick]

Ugh these little critters are just a constant source of worry! I worry because Diana lays eggs almost every day (thank goodness she took a couple of days off).
Now I am worried because the Roadrunners are not laying eggs at all. And Minnie is sort of 'off'.
She didn't join in the fun from the bag of leaves but went to bed early instead. And when everyone came up and bothered her she just went and roosted on her own on another roost.
She did do that once before and then I was worried because it was very cold. It is chilly now but not dangerously cold so I am more worried it is a sign of something wrong. She looked fine on a cursory inspection while she was on the roost but if she isn't her usual perky self in the morning I will do a more thorough inspection and spend more time observing her.
It seems like it is always something!

 

[RoyalChick]

Nope, it's exactly as it looks. The small coop at the back was originally I beleive meant as a broody coop/nest box. Now two or three hens sleep there if it gets to stressful in the main coop. The rooster and three hens sleep on a roost bar that you can't quite see that runs accross the closest corner of the coop run you can see in the picture.

Wow - they really are squished in there!

 

[Ribh]

Wow - they really are squished in there!

Very squishy.

 

[Ribh]

Ugh these little critters are just a constant source of worry! I worry because Diana lays eggs almost every day (thank goodness she took a couple of days off).
Now I am worried because the Roadrunners are not laying eggs at all. And Minnie is sort of 'off'.
She didn't join in the fun from the bag of leaves but went to bed early instead. And when everyone came up and bothered her she just went and roosted on her own on another roost.
She did do that once before and then I was worried because it was very cold. It is chilly now but not dangerously cold so I am more worried it is a sign of something wrong. She looked fine on a cursory inspection while she was on the roost but if she isn't her usual perky self in the morning I will do a more thorough inspection and spend more time observing her.
It seems like it is always something!

I believe chickens can suffer from things like headaches. She might just be having an off day.

 

[Marie2020]

I am with Shad on the ash - for bathing only and ideally not inside the coop.
I have to say though that deep litter works well for me and effectively mimics the forest floor which I think is the chickens' ancestral home.
My Chicken Palace is on dirt and I just add leaves. Dig down in the leaves and just like in the forest floor you have lovely loamy soil full of worms.
Not everyone can do it that way though because it does depend on being on a dirt floor and yet still predator protected which I think is what I have managed to construct
I don't see them sitting or sleeping on the floor and frankly they dig around much more outside the coop than in it so I don't think they are digging in their poop any more than is determined by the fact that they are restricted and therefore not moving to completely new ground each day.
I also think I am lucky in that my density is very low so each chicken has a load of space (more than 200 sq ft each if you include the yard).
But we both agree, ash has no place in bedding in the coop!

My friend and I worked so hard almost broke ourselves getting these pine logs.

 

[Shadrach]

I am with Shad on the ash - for bathing only and ideally not inside the coop.
I have to say though that deep litter works well for me and effectively mimics the forest floor which I think is the chickens' ancestral home.
My Chicken Palace is on dirt and I just add leaves. Dig down in the leaves and just like in the forest floor you have lovely loamy soil full of worms.
Not everyone can do it that way though because it does depend on being on a dirt floor and yet still predator protected which I think is what I have managed to construct
I don't see them sitting or sleeping on the floor and frankly they dig around much more outside the coop than in it so I don't think they are digging in their poop any more than is determined by the fact that they are restricted and therefore not moving to completely new ground each day.
I also think I am lucky in that my density is very low so each chicken has a load of space (more than 200 sq ft each if you include the yard).
But we both agree, ash has no place in bedding in the coop!

On a natural ground floor with low chicken density and a very large well designed coop built with this kind of chicken keeping in mind it's workable.
That is not what most people have though.

 

[BY Bob]

Back with BY Bob before Bedtime

I have video I will post later.