How many bags of shavings?

[4 Love of Baby Chickens]

I have a 10' by 20' coop for 19 chickens. I winterized the run with 2 sheets of 7 mil plastic. It feels so much warmer in there. I still need to cover the top part of the coop with plastic to keep the blowing snow, rain, and wind out. After that I am gonna try the DLM.

But how many bags of shavings will I need to cover my coop and maybe run with 6 inches of the DLM? I need answers soon. I don't when we'll be getting snow. The weather is pointing towards a rough winter.

 

[Chickpeep]

I have a coop that is 4' x 8' floor space. I used one bale of shavings to cover it 6 - 7 " deep. You'll have to do the math from there. In my mind I see it sectioned into about 6 of mine so 6 bales of shavings for a 20 x 10 coop? How does that sound. If you want it deeper then more bales.

Your Girls will love you for it.

 

[GAchick]

You can always throw more in there, if what you put down doesn't seem enough, or as it gets a little smelly...

 

[dbcooper02]

Your 10 by 20 coop is 200 sq ft. To cover the floor 6 inches (one half foot) deep would require 100 cubic feet of shavings.
Most bales I have seen fluff up to make 10 cubic feet. Thus it will take 10 bales of shavings.

 

[4 Love of Baby Chickens]

I was planning on blocking off their favorite dust bathing area with some boards so they can still dust bathe in dirt instead of shavings and such. That will be around a 3' by 5' area off from the coop space.

So I guess I need around 7 bags of shavings. Do I need 6 inches of shavings? Would 4 inches be enough?

 

[SC_Hugh]

DLM works best for me when I start off with 3-4" of shavings and wait until those are getting soiled and then push all of that soiled stuff under the roost and section off from the other clean 1/3 of the floor space and then I add another bag to the empty side near the nest boxes. Then, occasional stirring and adding DE to the mix. Handfuls of scratch thrown around and that is usually good for 5-6 months.

Start off with 4-5 large bags and see what that looks like, add more in a few months.

 

[reksat]

I have a 5x8 coop and since the completion of our coop in July, we have only used about 3/4 of a bag of shavings while doing the DLM with our 8 chics. I just replenish with a topping of shavings after stirring the litter up and so far this has been working great for us.I guess it would be what works best for you imo. Hope this helped.

 

[they'reHISchickens]

I see you are in the middle of Tennessee.. Are you sure you need to cover the run? Are you certain the plastic will hold up to the winter wind? How much of a snow load will there be on the covering plastic?
Personally, I would use the shavings in the coop and leave the run bare. If water/snow does get inside, shavings will make it a mess and it won't dry out as well as plain dirt. Just my opinion.

 

[4 Love of Baby Chickens]

My run is on the North side and it sure does feel warmer in there. And we usually do not get more than 3 to 6 inches of snow at a time. Maybe 2 or 5 snowstorms during the winter. And last year I slipped several times in the snow, mud, and poop and fell on my back. Ouch and Yuck!!!

I do not want to go through that again.