Hindsight

[OregonPortland]

I have a chicken coop that was built on my property prior to buying it. A contractor made some fixes and patchwork to make it operable again. However, I am wondering ( now that I have already moved a small flock of five out there), if there is some thing that I should’ve done to treat the coop before hand. Just coming off of seeing the close-up parasite pictures I am wondering if I should have put some sort of treatment for prevention in the coop and around the run. I also wonder how to make the run better, as it now is mostly in the shade and it rains a lot in Oregon so. I put down hay over the mud as well as some small animal bedding type of litter around the coop. That seems boring and the chickens really want to get to the lawn. I’m wondering what plants I might be able to put into a coop that is mostly in the shade and often pretty wet. Im thinking wheatgrass and cat grass for starters. I’m also wondering if there’s anything I should do in terms of prevention to add to the coop even though the chickens have already moved in. Currently the coop has a couple of perches and nesting boxes, a panel heater that doesn’t seem to warm the coop much, food and water just …some basic things but I would really like to fix it up for them. Any recommendations around this situation? Is it too late for me to do prevention? For dust baths I am just buying containers of chicken dust at the feed store and sprinkling it in a pile on the wood chips and hay and now I’m wondering if I should put it into a tray or something? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

 

[DobieLover]

Can you please post pictures of the inside and outside of the coop and some pictures of the run?
If you are getting lots of rain and the run is turning to mud you'd be well off building a solid pitched roof over the run and diverting all water run off away from the run and coop and preventing any water from flowing towards the run. Putting hay in the mud is going to make a mess and potentially make a moldy cake.
I seriously doubt you'd be able to grow a thing in the run due to the shade and likely the size. Chickens will quickly denude land of greenery unless they have A LOT of space per bird and enough sun for growth.
As for preventative for mites, there really isn't anything you can use. Giving the birds a good place to dust bathe is important. Once you get and keep the run dry, they will dig their own dust bathing holes and bathe daily to keep themselves parasite free.

 

[OregonPortland]

Thank you for this Information! I’ll get photos when it’s light out tomorrow. I will attach a video that sort of shows some of the house that I happen to have:

 

[rosemarythyme]

Coop looks fine at a glance, I'll wait for more photos.

Since the birds have already moved in I wouldn't bother doing any treatment, just deal with issues IF they arise.

A shady run isn't a bad thing, though mud is an issue that needs to be addressed. You might want to consider deep litter instead of hay + animal bedding (wood shavings?) as that will give you better drainage and better odor control PROVIDED THAT you do not have drainage issues at the spot. Deep litter is also a lot more cost effective (free for many of us) if you have a source of wood chips, dried leaves, short grass clippings, weeds, garden trimmings, etc.

And as DobieLover noted, any plants in a run will generally get killed off. You're better off just adding things for the chickens to do inside the run, whether it's things to climb up on, run around, or dig through: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/a-cluttered-run.1323792/

As far as the "chicken dust," I assume this is some sort of permethrin product? If so, do not use it proactively as it can build up resistance in pests. A better dust bath choice would be plain old topsoil or dirt without fertilizers/herbicides, peat moss, some wood ash, sand.