How much bedding do you need?

[CrystalAnon]

I use needle nose pliers or wind pieces of wire into the hardware cloth to grip mine. Also, I use the back end of the needle nose pliers to scoot the hardware cloth over - the handles stick through the holes, and are more durable than my fingers.

For gloves, I use gardening or work gloves with the sticky neoprene/rubber coating. Gives me a good grip, and the glove is thin enough to work with. Not sure what type of glove you were using, but if you can't get a good grip on the hardware cloth, your glove type is wrong, and you may need some tools like I mentioned. 19 gage or the type of wire you use to tie chain link fence to the poles could give you some good loops/handles to maneuver the hardware cloth.

Great suggestions! Thank you.
I just had my garden gloves, but they don’t have any rubber on them. I have some of those gloves with the blue rubber fingers on them. I didn’t even think of them!
Next time.
Thanks again!

 

[janjan1]

I live in NW Ga and use the deep deep bedding method. Shaving and hay/straw. They are out daily via the automatic run door. We have a lot of hawks & coyotes that live around us. The chicks usually roost in the rafters except for 3-4 that use a 4 rung roost I made closer to ground. Actually only 1-2 hens sleep in the coo-de-vill, but they all lay in there. During winter months I only get 1-2 eggs daily, now they are up to 5-7 daily. During winter/cold months I wrap the run in heavy duty poly so they are kept out of the wind, one section at the top of rafters is open for ventilation. The sides are sheltered by my workshop & hay trailer. Back side has plywood. All the lower 3 feet is heavy duty hardware cloth and concrete block. Some predators have attempted to enter but can’t. I’m in a daily battle however with mice & rats. This picture is when I first built the run, improvements have been made to aide in security & wheather proofing.

 

[Lumley Farm]

One question I would have with that, do you ever find any issues with dust, with the paper shreds?
I live in central Florida, so I think we’ll probably have little issues with it, due to the humidity, but I was curious if you noticed anything like that with shredded paper mixed in the bedding.
It surprises me that people start with 6” of bedding! So they just walk all around in the fluff, until they get into their run? How does that work? Sounds pretty cozy though!

I live in Central Florida as well. I use Rural Kings small bedding and renew the nesting boxes with fresh and the old I throw on the floor for soft impact as they get up in the am because the ground is plywood. I have a fan in the window that can blow out instead in the coop itself. here's a pic of the interior. the fan expels air just to the right of the nesting boxes.

 

[CrystalAnon]

I live in Central Florida as well. I use Rural Kings small bedding and renew the nesting boxes with fresh and the old I throw on the floor for soft impact as they get up in the am because the ground is plywood. I have a fan in the window that can blow out instead in the coop itself. here's a pic of the interior. the fan expels air just to the right of the nesting boxes.

That’s awesome! We don’t have electric anywhere near our coop. But if someday we did, that is a great idea! Just suck it all out.

 

[aart]

I have a fan in the window that can blow out instead in the coop itself.

Just suck it all out

Make sure you get a fan that is approved for dusty areas to avoid fires.
Otherwise it's better to blow cooler air into the coop.

 

[3KillerBs]

I have a fan in the window that can blow out instead in the coop itself.

@aart is correct, a fan inside the coop is a terrible fire hazard unless it's rated for barn use.