I have 4 hens that i rescued a year ago. They have a large wood dog house for a coop that leads to a run encased in hardwire and chain link fence and a roof.
The coop is filled with pine shavings and the run floor is concrete and i've provided a kiddie pool filled with dirt (and now will mix with wood ash after reading up on it).
They are FREE RANGE during the day and spend the night in the coop and until about noon in the run until i let them out until dusk.
I started putting a layer of pine shavings down in the run during the winter to keep their feet warm and now i'm wondering if i should remove it during the warm months and just hose it out daily like i did last year? Wonder if this helps keep infestations down like mites, lice, etc?
Sometimes i worry about them having to walk on concrete for the hours of the day they're in the run but maybe i shouldn't??
Thanks for input!
Susie
The coop is filled with pine shavings and the run floor is concrete and i've provided a kiddie pool filled with dirt (and now will mix with wood ash after reading up on it).
They are FREE RANGE during the day and spend the night in the coop and until about noon in the run until i let them out until dusk.
I started putting a layer of pine shavings down in the run during the winter to keep their feet warm and now i'm wondering if i should remove it during the warm months and just hose it out daily like i did last year? Wonder if this helps keep infestations down like mites, lice, etc?
Sometimes i worry about them having to walk on concrete for the hours of the day they're in the run but maybe i shouldn't??
Thanks for input!
Susie
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