Grass Clippings. Great for Run. Bad for Coop.

[Kayla's Lunch]

Thanks! Does it matter if it is straw or hay? Is hay better?

 

[llombardo]

I just added grass clippings to my run, along with pine cones--I have plenty of both. It makes great ground cover and keeps them busy.

So for a laugh, picture this..

I didn't know how much I was going to use, so here I am crawling around the front yard putting it in bags. After I dumped the first bag I figured out I needed way more. So I spent a good amount if time crawling around the front yard collecting grass--one plastic bag at a time. Then I started adding pine cones.I was getting some strange looks from the people driving through, my neighbors expect to see me do this stuff...

 

[blackdog043]

Hubby asked me when I'll let him start mulching the clippings back into the lawn to enrich the lawn. I told him that the clippings are too valuable for that!

 

[rosemarythyme]

Does the deep litter in the run differ from the deep litter in the coop? I have mostly heard of just using pine shavings in the coop and a mix of stuff in the run. Is there some reason to do it that way? My run in pretty much finished with the chicks already living there and my coop may finished today or tomorrow.

From the sounds of it you're talking about deep litter vs deep bedding. Difference is mainly moisture. With deep LITTER it's important to have a mix of materials, not just one thing like shavings, in order to let rain water fall through and for the mixture to compost well.

I do deep bedding in the coop with wood chips. I do not want to add moisture to the coop as it has a wood floor. I use very little wood shavings in the coop (just in nest boxes) as its not cheap and the stuff doesn't break down as well once it's in the run. My goal with litter is to have it as close to free as possible - other than the shavings in the nest box, everything is sourced free from the yard.

 

[aart]

From the sounds of it you're talking about deep litter vs deep bedding. Difference is mainly moisture. With deep LITTER it's important to have a mix of materials, not just one thing like shavings, in order to let rain water fall through and for the mixture to compost well.

....as well as air/oxygen, to keep the mix aerobic rather than anaerobic(when all the nasties can proliferate).

Ditto on the Deep Bedding vs Deep Litter.
Here's good another post on DB vs DL:
http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1075545/can-i-do-deep-litter-method-with-this-coop#post_16440037

I use deepish(2-4") bedding in coop, change it out twice a year and add to the deepish litter in run.
ETA: I do use poop boards, so that extends the time the deep bedding can be used before changing out.

 

[llombardo]

So I'm just starting out here. I still have some reg grass and I added clipping, pine cones, and mulch. Is that good? That is in the enclosure. Inside the coop I have a mix of pine shavings and flax shavings. In the coop run there is sand, now mixed with shavings and everything they kick in there.

 

[aart]

and mulch

What do yo mean by 'mulch'?

Pics of your run would help.

 

[StarChicken]

Thanks! Does it matter if it is straw or hay? Is hay better?

Hay has seeds, straw does not. That said, I'm thinking the chickens would eat the seeds. Even if they sprout, the chickens will gobble them up.

Hay (seeds) vs straw (no seeds) would be more important in the garden.

 

[1cock2hens]

Straw is a stalk, usually a waste product of wheat, that's used as bedding for barnyard animals. Hay—is used as animal feed

 

[aart]

Hay has seeds, straw does not.

Well, we hope so, but often that is not the case, depending on how it is harvested there can be plenty of grain left in a bale of straw. I have lots of wheat growing out of my straw mulch on the garden.

IIRC, hay is cut before it goes to seed, the leaf part is what is valuable as feed.