I HATE sand, now what do I do? (Help me with my run flooring)

[goldfishes]

When my chickens free range, I noticed that they would ALWAYS head toward s the wooded area surrounding our house. There, they would spend hours in sheer bliss digging through the substrate in their search for a meal. Pine needles, leaves, and soil that contained much decomposed material acted as bedding and the perfect dirt bath! Unfortunately, we can no longer free range the girls but have brought the woods to them! We have moved a lot of the soil to the run area and have collected large (55 gal) bags of the litter containing leaves, pine needles, etc. to add throughout the winter. As an added precaution (to keep down odor and prevent the run from becoming wet) we have put sheets of clear polycarbonate paneling over the walls leaving a 4" area at the top (of the walls) for ventilation. Roofing is a combination of polycarbonate paneling and standard roofing shingles. The girls LOVE digging through the dirt and litter, there is NO odor, the run stays dry, the food stays dry, the girls stay dry and winter is less stressful for them.

Does the clear polycarbonate make the run extremely hot? We used to have similiar, but the green kind in a shed and it acted like a green house. For now, I have stapled contractors grade transparent plastic to the sides that get most of the rain and it has helped greatly. The girls are like yours, they are definitely loving the dirt and litter, the homemade dust bin is now covered with pine shavings. They don't seem to mind as they are bathing everywhere now, not just the box. I may move out the box as time progresses.

So for those interested, here are my updates going into 4 weeks of DLM in the run:

Yesterday, to stir up any bedding they may have missed, I raked all the corners into the middle of the run and through a few handfuls of scratch in the middle. They had it all flattened and spread out by the end of the day. I've noticed they are always digging holes looking for food and there is rarely any fussing going on. They seem to be more active than they have since the cold spell hit which is excellent. The bedding is now up to 4 inches and I can't smell anything yet that is unpleasant. Parts of the pine is shredded into small bits and flies every where when the birds dig around. There is "dust" everywhere. On the bedding, the outdoor roost, the edges of the frame. I am not sure this is desirable. They don't seem to mind, though. I'm hoping this will settle as it continues to break down. I plan to dust in there after dusk to see if it helps tomorrow.

Also, one thing I am not liking is the waterer is always filthy now. Not a big deal as I change it out every morning and pour out gunk that accumulates by the afternoon. I just worry since I am not "scooping the poop" that their water is not ideal to drink at times. Since I started the DLM, I have been keeping a close eye on their health for signs of sickness. So far, they are doing well.

Onto the coop itself: Since it is on the smaller side for six birds (just under 3 square feet), I am maintaining the daily removal of waste and tossing it in the compost outside of the run. I don't want to take any chances of ammonia or moisture building up and it doesn't take more than a couple minutes to clean.

 

[CliffB]

Does the clear polycarbonate make the run extremely hot? We used to have similiar, but the green kind in a shed and it acted like a green house. For now, I have stapled contractors grade transparent plastic to the sides that get most of the rain and it has helped greatly. The girls are like yours, they are definitely loving the dirt and litter, the homemade dust bin is now covered with pine shavings. They don't seem to mind as they are bathing everywhere now, not just the box. I may move out the box as time progresses.

So for those interested, here are my updates going into 4 weeks of DLM in the run:

Yesterday, to stir up any bedding they may have missed, I raked all the corners into the middle of the run and through a few handfuls of scratch in the middle. They had it all flattened and spread out by the end of the day. I've noticed they are always digging holes looking for food and there is rarely any fussing going on. They seem to be more active than they have since the cold spell hit which is excellent. The bedding is now up to 4 inches and I can't smell anything yet that is unpleasant. Parts of the pine is shredded into small bits and flies every where when the birds dig around. There is "dust" everywhere. On the bedding, the outdoor roost, the edges of the frame. I am not sure this is desirable. They don't seem to mind, though. I'm hoping this will settle as it continues to break down. I plan to dust in there after dusk to see if it helps tomorrow.

Also, one thing I am not liking is the waterer is always filthy now. Not a big deal as I change it out every morning and pour out gunk that accumulates by the afternoon. I just worry since I am not "scooping the poop" that their water is not ideal to drink at times. Since I started the DLM, I have been keeping a close eye on their health for signs of sickness. So far, they are doing well.

Onto the coop itself: Since it is on the smaller side for six birds (just under 3 square feet), I am maintaining the daily removal of waste and tossing it in the compost outside of the run. I don't want to take any chances of ammonia or moisture building up and it doesn't take more than a couple minutes to clean.

I've been steadily moving my waterer up as the chicks get older. When i notice it is getting nasty and full of sand and gunk i move it up a few links of chain till it's just at their head/shoulder level.

 

[Luvmy9hens]

The polycarbonate panels on the roof will remain and those on the upper section of wall will be removed to allow more air to circulate during the Spring and Summer months. When the trees regrow their leaves, the coop and run are shaded 90% of the time. For water, I have a heated bowl (keeps the water at about 40 degrees) with a guard on top and a coil surrounding the electric wire - a nice feature. Bought it online last year. I have the bowl raised on cement pavers. The girls can hop up and have a drink as there is enough room for them. I do rinse it out every week or two. There is minimal dirt in the bowl from their digging and foraging

 

[goldfishes]

Thank you for the reply on the panels! That helps a lot. I am going to look into replacing the contractor's plastic with them soon. The plastic is translucent and not see through which I can tell the birds aren't crazy about. The try to spend more time on the side I left uncovered when it is warmer temperatures. They seem to enjoy looking out. (And sorry I didn't reply sooner. I am still new to the forum and just noticed I hadn't responded.)

As far as an update on the run: I didn't get any leaves into the run this year do to a back injury. So, we just added 3 bales of pine shavings, and I've added about 1 1/2 since. I'm really surprised that there is no smell for the past 2 weeks or so and it is starting to smell more "earthy." However, there is a lot of dust, fine particles in the air. I have a bell waterer hung up on a chain and it's as high as I can go or the birds couldn't reach it. It gets dirt in it daily. But I change the water often when it is below freezing and daily when it's not, so that's not too much of an issue. The other issue is there are pine shavings everywhere! They are trapped between the plastic and the hardware cloth, so I suspect it will be a messy job removing them in the spring. And it is nearly impossible to keep from tracking in pine shavings into the house. I've decided that I should have used the smaller sized pine shavings or other carbons combined to help with this.

Despite having issues with dust, water and having to sweep the house a few times a day, the chickens are in seventh heaven. During the coldest days, I noticed they would make nests into the run and huddle down. And they have a blast digging into the shavings looking for scratch and bugs. With the heavy clay soil, they really didn't get to kick up the dirt and I've noticed their claws are all shorter and nicely trim now. I do worry about the amount of manure in the shavings, but they still look very healthy, are showing no signs of distress and a bonus is they aren't picking on each other anymore. They have something to keep them busy now.

So thanks everyone for the help on the deep litter method in the run!

 

[Luvmy9hens]

Ah, yes - another item worth mentioning is that by leaving a 2 foot area of polycarbonate surrounding the walls at ground level assures me that a stray dog or racoon CAN NOT reach in and grab my bantam chickies. As you know, during times of stress or fear, they will huddle in a corner and not necessarily run into the coop. I have constructed the run to protect them from all types of predation.

Glad to hear that the DLM is working out for you! I use wood chips/shavings in the coop with a layer of sweet PDZ on the poop board. Always upgrading and improving as I read about the terrific innovations here on BYC!

 

[goldfishes]

That is a good idea! I did notice they tend to huddle near the fence when frightened which never made sense to me. I was thinking about adding a few boards at the bottom, but the panel would let in more light and cheaper. I love this forum. Thanks for sharing your methods.

 

[Luvmy9hens]

Last year a friend of mine was housing baby chicks in a wire cage with an attached shelter. A few of the birds (6 weeks) at that time were killed when they were ripped through 1/2" wire! She was not sure what had done it. Some had heads missing. Others were in pieces. Scared me enough to build Fort Knox.

 

[aart]

Last year a friend of mine was housing baby chicks in a wire cage with an attached shelter. A few of the birds (6 weeks) at that time were killed when they were ripped through 1/2" wire! She was not sure what had done it. Some had heads missing. Others were in pieces. Scared me enough to build Fort Knox.

I doubt that a chicks head, nor a racoons hand(the only animal dexterious enought to do that) would fit thru 1/2 mesh...must have been larger mesh.

 

[Luvmy9hens]

I doubt that a chicks head, nor a racoons hand(the only animal dexterious enought to do that) would fit thru 1/2 mesh...must have been larger mesh.

I doubted it myself until I saw it. The chicks had a habit of piling up in the corners when frightened. She never knew what it was that got to them. There is a REASON why hardware cloth is recommended in 1/4" - 1/2" spacing. Rats, snakes, weasels, you name it - could EASILY get through to 6 week old bantams that are tiny to begin with... The event occurred overnight / early am in late July of last year.

 

[vick01]

Back in December, I posted a question about my clay floor run. It was slippery when wet, and the flies were atrocious. After advice from these guys, I ended up putting down a layer of cow manure (because I had heaps of it), then straw mulch. The only thing I've added since is a catcher or two of grass clippings. I throw a few cups of scratch mix on the floor each day, and any kitchen scraps get thrown on the floor also. The girls love it!

My run is not covered. We don't have any problems with predators in my area (Phew!). There are also 2 trees in the run, so covering it would be a painful exercise. A few weeks ago, we had 2 weeks of summer storms. The run is on a slope, so the water drained away quickly, but the bedding was soaked through. I didn't notice any smell at all (except for a normal wet earthy smell that you would smell anywhere in the garden. In the last few days, I've noticed a return of the flies. I'm going to turn it over with a garden fork this afternoon and add some wood shavings. I'll just keep adding whatever I have on hand.

I have the same problem with my water. I change it daily, but there's always straw & mess in there. I'm going to lift it up on a chain. If that doesn't work, I'll lift it higher and put a few pavers underneath as a step.

My coop is small. One of those commercial wooden ones. I find that if I spread wood shavings under the roosts and clean it out every week, it keeps the smell down. You could also use PDZ in there. I've heard of that being used successfully.

I only have 2 problems - they love digging so much that they fling the mulch out of the run. No so much of a problem, but I've decided to plant a row of small shrubs next to the run to disguise this fact. The other problem is I've found an infestation of lice. Not sure if this is because I haven't cleaned the coop out as often as I should, or they are harbouring in the litter. Can anyone help with this question?