Hay/Straw in coop.

[jeremy]

So far I've only put pine bedding in my coop to line the bottom, lately though I've had a problem keeping it dry with rain and the muck that the girls are dragging in.

Does anybody know if doing a mixture of the pine bedding and adding an ample amount of hay or straw would help the moisture issue?

Thanks!

 

[fancbrd4me02]

When it rains I pile on a thick layer of straw in my runs. It keeps the mud form becoming an issue. A few days after the rain and routinely after that I turn the straw to reduce dampness in the bottom layers. the chckens help me dry it out by going thru it after I turn it. Turn it often enough and it will dry out quite a bit and start to break down. When it gets too dirty & broken down I put it in a compost heap where it sits for about 6 months to a year until it becomes dark rich garden compost.

 

[Hen_House_Rocks!]

I use pine shavings in summer and straw in winter. Mostly because that is what is available locally. I've had no issues mixing the two.

 

[7cutechix]

This is my first year with chickens, but I put down the pine pellets and I put bales of straw all around the sides of the coop for insulation....they have pulled so much straw off them and on to the floor! It's probably good insulation for the floor too. They seem happy. The floor was frozen though with poop and water that spilled.

 

[ChookHappy]

Hey neighbor! Yea this weather sure has been wet and looks like we have a few more days of it to go! So what I've been doing is been keeping shavings in the coop and been adding some DE to it and mixing it in. As for the run, we have a bale of oat under the covered portion and I've pulled enough out to cover the run completely. Once or twice a day I'll go and hang out with them and rip a bunch more out and give them something to rummage through. I've been adding DE to the covered area as well to try to keep it somewhat dry. Poor girls are still pretty wet.

 

[Sissy]

thats the best way to go also
I toss in a few handfulls of stall dry.