Keets are almost six weeks

[bpeterson80]

I do not think I will be building another coop for awhile. This one took a lot out of me. One other question about what to put on the bottom of the hen house. I was going to get some peel and stick linoleum and put straw or wood chips on top of that. Any suggestions.

 

[JLeigh]

I would try to get a linoleum sheet rather than peel and stick tiles. There is going to be all kinds of icky crud in those cracks where the tiles meet, and you can't get them tight enough to avoid the glue coming up a little, and I'd be afraid of the bacteria. You could probably pick some up at a local Home Depot for almost nothing. Just my opinion. I would think a single sheet would be a lot easier to clean in general, too.

I like straw but only because shavings and chips stick to the bottoms of my feet and shoes, and I HATE that. And they get all over everything when it's time to sweep. I can pitchfork a pile of straw into the compost, too. Just another opinion...I'm full of 'em .

 

[karensc]

I used several pieces of linoleum on the floor also. I had some left from our kitchen and bathrooms. It doesn't look real pretty, but it works and easier to clean. Anyway, it is covered with wood chips and you cannot see it. Maybe your local flooring co may have some that they are willing to donate to you. Doesn't hurt to call. they are only going to throw it away. To little for another job. Mine is 2 different colors and about 4 different pieces, but duct tape works for the seams.

 

[PeepsCA]

If you don't want to have to mess with the floor (meaning the surface under the bedding) ever again... then I recommend getting a horse stall mat, from Tractor Supply (my local feed stores also sell them). They are at least 1/2" thick and will last forever... and I think they are cut to 4'x6' size.

Shavings will absorb the poop and control the odor, but if you are going to clean it out on a regular basis straw is easier on the garden and less of a mess to deal with. I like the deep litter method tho... a working compost of bedding (straw or shavings, or both), poop and raked leaves/pine needles works great for me. The Guineas keep it churned up and it breaks down right there where it is, the microbes/beneficial organisms naturally control odor and it's ready for the garden when you need/want to change some out a couple times a year and add fresh bedding materials.

 

[JLeigh]

My guineas are penned/cooped 24/7. Tons 'O pooping going on in there, and pretty stinky. How often, on the average, do you add more bedding/pine/leaves to your coops and/or pens? It sure would be less work for me (I'm almost a neat freak, but not quite), and rake out my pens and coops once a month, replace the straw. I pitch fork out the poop under their roosts about once a week. They don't scratch in their coop - or at least they don't under the roost. They scratch all day in the pen.

I dunno, I guess I go overboard for them because they can't free range. Guilt. My daughter has learned to exploit my guilt, too. .

Love the horse stall mat idea. Where would we all be without you? (and I mean that!)

Off to Tractor Supply for horse stall mats! Love to shop! (My daughter has learned to exploit that too!)

 

[PeepsCA]

I try to add a new layer of something to it 3-4 times a year (usually shavings and/or straw), but the bulk thickness of the bedding gets added in during the Fall after I can rake huge piles of oak leaves and pine needles that they can work on churning up for me all winter. Then I'll take a bunch of the broken down/composted bedding out for the garden in the Spring and add in more shavings and straw. I free feed them alfalfa too so there's always some of that mixed in as well (they mix it in). Some areas do need to be turned by hand, so it can be a little work... but it's cost effective for me since I'm not going thru bales of straw or shavings weekly or monthly for every coop (I still have to change out shavings/straw frequently in 2 of my coops tho, PITA).

 

[JLeigh]

Thanks Peeps. I'm going to give it a try. We have nothing but pine needles and leaves around here!

 

[karensc]

JLeigh, my 2 birds do not free range either because we have to many hawks and they travel a little to far than I like them to. So I let them out in their 10 X 12 pen in the morning and they can scratched out there in the dirt and if the weather is cold or rainy they can go inside the pen and stay dry. I change out my chips about every 6 weeks, but I scoop poop every day under the roosts. It doesnt take much, only about a minute and it is good. It depends if they shake the dirt off inisde or outside when they dust bathe. They usually put all this dirt on them outside then go inside and shake it all off to make a mess for me. Then they get to running in and out and throw chips all over the place. They are very goofy birds. Mine are anyway.

 

[cowcreekgeek]

Wondering if, since you box is a nice big one, it wouldn't be best to take it out into that fine home you've built for 'em, but leave 'em in the box the first night. You could position it close to the door to the run, and open the end of the box in a day or two, increasing their inside space progressively 'til they choose to abandon it completely.

Or, maybe that's just my tendency to over-think everything ~'-)

 

[bpeterson80]

I was thinking about that but it just has a top with chicken wire on it so there is not break for the weather if we have any and if it is windy there is no wind break it can go right in the top. I think I will just put them in the hen house and go from there. It is slightly bigger then the box so I think they should do fine. I am planning on doing it this weekend so I will let you know how it went.