greetings from St. Louis area!

[hobbyNewb]

My wife and I have a small area of our yard (maybe 30'x40') that we use for firewood piles, raised garden beds, and a rabbit hutch. I just acquired an old Step 2 children's cottage that I'd like to convert into a coop. We're hoping for fresh eggs and bug control of the various things that come in with firewood each season (have seen carpenter ants, assume there are termites too). Also have black widows and brown recluses! So, we plan on letting chicken have a coop, a small screened-in run, and then free reign of the fenced in 30x40 area when we are home. The plan is to get 3 or 4 black sex-link hens.

As far as the coop and run goes, I have read about a deep litter method. Is this something I would do in the coop only? What does everyone recommend for the actual run? Right now there is a mixture of fescue and zoysia grass, and some bare dirt spots. (Will probably be a 5x10 area fenced in for them, so they can get out in the sun and get fresh air while still being safe from hawks and other preds).

Thanks for all the suggestions and the great discussions generated on this site! Glad to be here!

 

[N F C]

Hello and welcome to BYC!

If you haven't already, check out the coop & run forum. There is a lot of information there and lots of members to give you help if you need it with your coop project.

Our run is mostly sand and some dirt. Sand is sort of what passes for dirt in my part of FL, lol.

With the grass mix and bare dirt in your future run, you'll be fine but be prepared...you'll probably end up with no grass (just bare dirt) by the time the chickens get done with it. They love to scratch & dig.

Black Sex Links are great producers of large eggs. We have red sex links in our mixed flock and they are terrific girls.

Nice to have you here!

 

[N F C]

Oops, meant to give you a link to the coop & run forum...

https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/9/coop-run-design-construction-maintenance

There you go!

 

[BantamLover21]

I'm glad you joined our community!

I don't really use the deep litter method, so I'm no expert, but I think most people just use it in the coop. As for the run, there are many options as to what to do with it. Chickens love scratching around in plants, but they can soon reduce a lush run into an area of hard, bare dirt. Some people leave their runs as simply dirt, while others cover the ground with straw, sand, shavings, or other bedding materials that the hens can scratch around in.

 

[drumstick diva]

Welcome to Backyard chickens. So glad you joined the flock

 

[Kelsie2290]

Hello and Welcome To BYC!

 

[hobbyNewb]

Thanks for the tips! I had a local chicken keeper tell me to avoid sand because of possible compaction in the gizzard? They think it's food and eat too much? That a bit of an old bird-keeper's tale or what?

 

[Cynthia12]

I personally, ...personally.... don't like the deep method in the coop. Where you are only going to have 4 chickens, you could wait and change the coop bedding once a month, by stirring it up every day. Do keep the nest boxes clean though. And, when I change them, once a month I put a bit of seven dust in there to keep the mites down. All birds get them. Something to watch for. As you probably know.
I don't care for the sand either. I found that when my chickens would scratch it up, like chickens do, it brought up a lot of dust, especially in the summer..and they would start sneezing. I just keep the coop changed around every other week, or more, or less, according to how many chickens I have at the time. I have a small flock in the back. I hatch, so I have upcoming girls to start laying about twice a yr. My numbers change in how many I have in the coop. Right now, I'm changing the shavings around every other week..more chickens in there for now until these other pullets start in May.

 

[Cynthia12]

And yes, didn't answer the coop only? I just put shavings in the coop area..straw in the run in the winter.

 

[The Pinto Pony]