We’re finishing our coup this weekend. We bought an old farm house which had an already built coup. So... we’re fixing the coup up to make it safe from predators. We added some new windows, we’re attaching a run, and laying some cheap vinyl flooring over the existing hardwood floor for easier cleaning. The question remains- do I use hay, straw, sand, or pine chips/shavings?What do you use and why? I’m new to raising chickens. I’ve read sand in nesting boxes helps keep the eggs cleaner. I have a while before my girls start laying. Our coup is 25’x10’x8-6’(slanted roof). Ideas? I will have about 26 chickens total. I’d like it to be cost effective and healthy for the girls. Thank you
Hi from Ohio!
We have an elevated coop since we had to build one - it is 6'x8'. Since it is wet in OH, the elevated coop keeps it dry and provides shade for the chickens. We also use linoleum on the floor of our coop. On top of that, we use pine shavings. We use a ladder roost, so toss around the pine shavings every few days and then completely replace them every few weeks. We toss used shavings into the run where the chickens scratch them around, and it seems to help with the degradation of the pine shavings. During the warm months, we sometimes toss PDZ onto the shavings to help with odor.
...
