I'm not a farmer-I just play one on TV, so I need help

[Oliver Wendall Douglass]

We have a nice coup in our backyard (Looks like a barn...) and a nice fenced-in area for our 4 chickens to roam. Looking for a nice bedding to put on the ground--something efficient and looks good. Was thinking hay, but we live in FL, so get a lot of rain and that seems to rule that out.
Any suggestions? Large pebbles, pine chips, mulch?

 

[black_cat]

I have a mix of soil, sand, leaf litter, mulch, wood chips, straw- most everything, and I mix it around if it gets smelly or packed down.

 

[theoldchick]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/chicken-run-best-material-for-floor-thats-proven.135450/

 

[Oliver Wendall Douglass]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/chicken-run-best-material-for-floor-thats-proven.135450/

Thanks! I'm a newbie, and lots to sift through on this site, so I appreciate the link!

 

[Aunt Tat]

We have a nice coup in our backyard (Looks like a barn...) and a nice fenced-in area for our 4 chickens to roam. Looking for a nice bedding to put on the ground--something efficient and looks good. Was thinking hay, but we live in FL, so get a lot of rain and that seems to rule that out.
Any suggestions? Large pebbles, pine chips, mulch?

Chickens love mulch!
Not too sure about the pebbles though
Sand might work for you too.

Eddie Albert grew corn, squash, and pumpkins in his front yard and gave them away. However, I'm assuming you're an E.A. fan, so you probably knew about that.

 

[Lemon-Drop]

I just put gravel (with fairly smooth pebbles) on the ground of part of my run. It’s super rainy where I am (though been getting some nice weather recently) the rocks are to help with drainage.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

We have a nice coup in our backyard (Looks like a barn...) and a nice fenced-in area for our 4 chickens to roam. Looking for a nice bedding to put on the ground--something efficient and looks good. Was thinking hay, but we live in FL, so get a lot of rain and that seems to rule that out.
Any suggestions? Large pebbles, pine chips, mulch?

Also in FL - not sure what part you are in, but I grew up along at either end of the I-4 corridor, and now have a homestead up in the panhandle, averaging 59" rainfall yearly.

I use leaf litter. In a "deep litter" method. The volume and irregular shape helps keep their feet out of the mud and water (I have Brahma, feathered feet, its a frostbite concern the seven days out of the year it gets cool around here), as it breaks down it composts (being more "brown" than "green" is a cold compost method, relatively slow) with the chicken waste and neutralizes most all of the smell (I'm told, my own sense of smell "isn't good" for reasons that don't matter here).

Has the benefit of being cheap - only costs my labor, I have acreage.

If you are in a more urban area, you can likely get "mulch" from tree trimming operations, etc at similar pricing. Or look into "chip drop". I'm not fond of green mulch, actually, but its hard to beat the price. I'd just store it somewhere to age first for a time. Have had mildew issues with it (once), back in Tampa, when it was simply too wet.

/edit With respect to the above poster, I disagree. Sandy clay soils here - tried pebbles under my watering cups for a time, filled (quickly) with chicken and duck droppings, became hard like concrete. When, when it got wet, smelled like an open sewer, even to me. If you can keep it dry, sand works for some, who then rake out the droppings periodically, like a cat litter box - but in a run, that's a lot of work, and the more droppings it collects, the less it drains. Most of FL already has a water table between 3' and 10' in depth, there just isn't that much room for water to "go" when we get a heavy rainfall. Standing water after a few moments of damp is the nature of our state.

 

[Aunt Tat]

I'm in Oregon. We have different issues to deal with weather-wise

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I'm in Oregon. We have different issues to deal with weather-wise

The original poster is in some unidentified area of Florida.


Agree with the broader point, local climate influences our poultry management practices significantly (or it should), just as local resources do.

My daughter lives in your rain forest, working for a software company, but I understand the rest of your State is *significantly* different from the view of her back yard.

 

[3KillerBs]

I like pine straw in my run.

It isn't as absorbent as some other materials but it has a number of advantages:

• It doesn't pack down readily so you don't form anaerobic pockets.
• It dries out on top rapidly after even the heaviest rains.
• It doesn't break down as fast as straw and some other options.
• It smells nice on it's own.
• It's free for the raking on my property (and inexpensive to purchase in most of the southeastern US (people may pay you to rake it out of their yards)).

I'm not a fan of sand as bedding/litter because it requires intensive maintenance to keep poop from crusting on the surface and doesn't compost so all the fine particles of poop just get down into it and stay there -- rotting and reeking when it gets wet.