Help!!!

[Sazo24]

Hi all, I'm new to this and need all the help I can get. Here goes with my queries. I have taken the first step and ordered my coop, now scared I haven't a clue what I'm doing and want to make a lovely home for the two ladies I will be receiving from my father in law, he has black rocks & rhode rocks. I know you are thinking why not ask him, but he keeps hens on a large scale and has a huge field for them to roam around in, whereas I have a medium sized garden and want them more as family pets than for their egg production. I have toiled over where to put my coop & have two areas of possibility, one is concrete & the other is wooden decking, I would prefer the latter and would welcome suggestions of what to put on top of the decking so that whatever I put in the run will not fall through the gaps. This is also another concern, what do I put on the run floor???? I have seen that someone used softwood chips at a good depth, thought these would be easy to clean up too???? Now bedding, straw or hay? Is hay not softer for them, or am I being too sensitive? Food I am ok with, think pellets seem the food of choice, but what scraps can I feed & what should they never eat? Also do I need grit & where do I put it? They will be let out daily to roam around my garden and there are plenty of places for them to get in the soil, so will I need a dust bath or not? Thanks to anyone who takes the time to read this all suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

 

[vehve]

I would not put the run over the deck, it will end up destroying the deck and collecting poop under it which will stink up your entire garden. Personally I would just go with dirt as a base for the run, with gravel underneath to give proper drainage. What kind of coop did you go with, might make it easier to give suggestions? Also, your location affects many things, so that would be good to know. Pine shavings work pretty well as bedding inside the coop, although they take long to compost. Peat moss or hemp bedding work pretty similarly, and break down quicker. I only use straw in the egg nests. In the run, some people like to use hay or shavings, others go for sand, some use dirt, and some use leaves and pine needles. Basically you need to choose whether you want a deep litter that is cleaned less regularly (a couple hours of work about once a year), or something you'll have to clean more often.(maybe 5 minutes daily of 20 minutes weekly). Grit the birds will need, some spot with sand will take care of that. I just have sand on the bottom of our run which they use as grit.

And don't worry about not having a clue, most people here started that way. You'll find that you'll learn pretty quickly.

 

[Michael OShay]

Welcome to BYC! We are here to help. I will try and answer your questions.

I would put the coop on the concrete instead of the wooden decking for two reasons. First, for predator protection. Wooden decking, particularly with gaps in it will not keep out rats, weasels, minks, snakes, or other possible predators that might get underneath the decking and attack your chickens. Second, chicken floors frequently get damp, and unlike wooden decking, the concrete will not decay.

As far as what to put on the coop and run floors, I would use either fine pea gravel or coarse river or construction sand with varying sized pebbles in it. Your chickens do not need hay or straw. Fine pea gravel or coarse sand will not hurt their feet and they will sleep on roosts at night. There is a very good article on the advantages of using coarse sand as bedding at http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/09/chicken-coop-bedding-sand-litter.html

As for what to feed your chickens, there is a very good article on this at http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/11/feeding-chickens-at-different-ages.html As for the grit, you can just put it in a small pie pan near their feed.

I would provide them a flat box of wood ash to take dust baths in. The chickens love it and the wood ash is better at preventing lice and mite infestations than dirt is.

I hope this helps and good luck with your chickens.

 

[Judy]

You can us whatever is available and cheap for litter. Hay, straw and wood chips are probably the most common, though people are starting to use sand as well -- if you do this outside the coop, it probably needs to be shaded as it gets hot. People also use dried leaves, and multiple other materials like shredded con cobs and rice hulls.

I don't think you will be happy with putting it on a wooden deck. Besides falling through, the wood will absorb odors and eventually rot as well. Concrete is easy to clean and many will tell you that you are ucky to have a concrete slab available. What the chickens want, though, is dirt or grass -- preferably grass (weeds are fine,) of course, though unless the space is large they will kill all the grass in short order.

Your garden area won't work if you actually garden in it, particularly vegetables, as they will eat newly planted seeds and if they miss any, the young plants as they emerge, not to mention the veggies off the plants. They're great in a spent garden, though, as they eat up bugs and leftover veggies.

Chickens love lots of space so they can spend their day foraging. They will not be very happy in a small enclosed run like those that come with most small commercial coops, but if you can still let them out daily, that should work. They will no doubt make their own dust bath areas -- I've never made a dust bath for them, mine make their own in their large fenced yard, about 70' x 70'.

Don't feed layer feed unles the hens are of laying age, or at least 16 weeks; feed a flock raiser or grower feed til then, as the calcium in layer is harmful to young chickens.

You can feed them just about anything you eat. A lot of bread is not good, and avoid high sugar or salt foods. They will especially love any meat scraps or carcasses to pick. I'll give you a link to our treats chart. The only caution is, try to make sure you don't overdo a type of food making their diet too unbalanced. Now and then we hear of cases where they are not getting enough protein because they get so much fruit, grees, etc.

Good luck, and have fun!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/chicken-treat-chart-the-best-treats-for-backyard-chickens

 

[Sazo24]

Thanks all for you comments thus far, I'm in the UK so don't have all the same things available as you guys and only rats or Fox's may be a problem but doubt a fox would get in my garden. The coop is a small starter coop for two birds, the nest area is raised & there is a ladder down to the run. I still would like to use the deck area as where the concrete area is, the coop would cover all of my plants. If I use the deck area I would put something down to prevent stuff falling through, as to what yet I'm not sure.

 

[TwoCrows]

Hello there and welcome to BYC!

I am a huge fan of sand. It is a wonderful medium for chickens as it is very easy to maintain and clean, stays dry even when wet, keeps the flies away, can be hosed down in the summer to keep the birds cool, soft of the foot pads and legs, and the chickens love to scratch around it in. You could cover your cement area with sand about 4 to 6 inches deep. The decking being wood will ultimately not be good flooring as it will harbor dampness, mold, smell, mites and worms.

Judy has left you with our treats chart for all the goodies you can feed your birds.

Great to have you aboard and welcome to our flock!

 

[vehve]

And I still vote for using neither spot

Any reason why you can't place it somewhere else in the garden?

 

[Sazo24]

Thanks I hope these girls are gonna appreciate the effort I'm going to so that they have a happy home. I am now seriously considering removing the whole decked area, I have lifted up a plank and it is soil and hardcore underneath. If I remove the hardcore, cover the soil in a mix of pea gravel and sand or bark, I can make the area larger than first planned, giving them a larger run, which I can fence off, so they will have more space to roam whilst out at work, then I can let them out when I return to go freely around the garden, what do you think?

 

[vehve]

Thanks I hope these girls are gonna appreciate the effort I'm going to so that they have a happy home. I am now seriously considering removing the whole decked area, I have lifted up a plank and it is soil and hardcore underneath. If I remove the hardcore, cover the soil in a mix of pea gravel and sand or bark, I can make the area larger than first planned, giving them a larger run, which I can fence off, so they will have more space to roam whilst out at work, then I can let them out when I return to go freely around the garden, what do you think?

That sounds like a good plan to me. I'd start by putting down gravel, and possibly french drains, to drain away water. Then you can go with whatever you decide to use on top of that. The bigger the run, the better. Plus if you build the run large enough to begin with, it will be easier adding more chickens when chicken math strikes. If the wood in the decking is in good shape, you could try to repurpose it as building material for the run.

*Edit* After some self educating I found that hardcore actually is gravel, so that should give you nice drainage.

 

[Sazo24]

That sounds like a good plan to me. I'd start by putting down gravel, and possibly french drains, to drain away water. Then you can go with whatever you decide to use on top of that. The bigger the run, the better. Plus if you build the run large enough to begin with, it will be easier adding more chickens when chicken math strikes. If the wood in the decking is in good shape, you could try to repurpose it as building material for the run.

*Edit* After some self educating I found that hardcore actually is gravel, so that should give you nice drainage.

Thanks using the planks is a great idea when I say hardcore, it's large chunks of red brick from what I can see so far, so think this will need to be removed. My husband is gonna have a shock when he comes home ha ha.

Ps what is a french drain?