Help! problem with bed of coop

[jimwaltman]

Using wood shavings (pine) purchased. Problem is the hens scratch around and fill up the water and pellet feeder with flying shavings. Should i use shavings in nest and forget about the floor?
Thanks

 

[GC-Raptor]

I use compressed straw on floor and in nests.
I hang my feeder and have the waterer on a upside down Dutch oven. . It doesn't fly around like shavings. GC

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Of course they will. You need to either use hanging feeders and water founts or elevate them on bricks or other structure so the rim is at about the height of the chickens' backs.
You can also move to nipple waterers.

 

[azygous]

Do you just only have a coop and no outside run for your chickens? Most of us don't keep food and water in our coops, but we place these outside in the run area where chickens spend almost all their time during the day.

The purpose of the shavings on the floor is to cushion to dismount from roosting perches to avoid injury to the foot pads which can result in bumblefoot. I got tired of the mess of shavings on the floor and installed sand in both my coops. It provides cushioning as well as being easy to scoop clean. I have yet to see any downside to sand and have had it in both coops and runs for years.

 

[iawoodchip]

I keep the food & water elevated, but still get debris in the water. I dump the soiled water into the liter to help the composting process.

 

[aart]

Of course they will. You need to either use hanging feeders and water founts or elevate them on bricks or other structure so the rim is at about the height of the chickens' backs.
You can also move to nipple waterers.

This^^^

 

[ToniTalley]

I use wood shaving in my coop but I hang the feeder and waterer to help keep them cleaner. In summer, water is outside but in winter it's in the coop so I can plug it in. I put it up on a block. The cooks will always make messes everywhere, you just have to keep up with daily cleanings.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I use wood chips in the coop, they don't fly as easily as shavings. The feeders both inside and out are elevated on some bricks. I use a nipple waterer which is out in the run so no worries about leaking or debris getting in.

 

[jimwaltman]

Thanks for your help. I elevated waterer and feeder which helped but still get some in there. Just doesnt stop water delivery now. May elevate more later. I am not familiar with the nipple thing. will have to look into that. They used the nest this morning for the first time. Someone told me i had to train them to do that. I was thinking about showing them a video. Thanks again for your help

 

[cmom]

I hang my feeders and I have auto waterers because I have a lot of birds. I think probably for you the water nipples would work best and hang the feeders just above their backs. I do feed my older birds pellets because they seemed to waste the crumbles. The coops are the same but these pictures were taken years ago. I use shavings on the floor as well as in the nest boxes. I also have a golf ball in each nest box. Good luck and have fun...

Originally I had the waterers inside the coops until I had a couple of accidents in one and flooded the coop, after that happening a couple of times I moved the waterers outside of the coops.

The original coop.

Years ago I used spanish moss in my nest boxes