Large Chicken Coop Bedding, What Do I Use?!?!!

[KesslerFlock14]

Hi there!

Okay, so I just got my first small flock ever, 9 chicks. They've been in the back of the house for four weeks and I'm not quite finished with the coop.

This is a before picture of the coop. It's an old milk shed that is divided into two parts.
My dilemma is that the coop is OVER 400 sq ft. (The smaller section is a little bit over 200 sq ft.)
What would be the best bedding for my chickens?
I have a limited budget, ie. minuscule.

I've heard both good and bad things about sand.
There is a concrete company down the road (1 mile) and then a quarry 6 miles away.
I've heard that sand harbors bacteria much more than other bedding and doesn't provide insulation (which I don't think will be too big of an issue anyways).
I've also heard that there are different types of sand, some, like play sand, are not good to use.

My chickies are also going to have a nice sized run, at least 800 sq ft. too.

Any tips, suggestions, or comments are welcome.

Thank you!

 

[Ridgerunner]

Anything can harbor bacteria in certain conditions. It’s possible. A piece of space junk could fall out of the sky and hit your house today. It’s possible. Don’t worry about sand harboring bacteria.

I assume the floor of that milk shed is concrete? Maybe bare dirt? And you should be able to keep it dry? A dry coop is a healthy coop. A wet coop is a dangerous coop. Keep it dry and you don’t have to worry about bacteria or much of anything else no matter what bedding you use. You could start out with bare concrete or bare ground and see if that works for you.

If they are roosting on a roost, what difference does it make if is in insulation or not. If it is dry, it is good insulation. If anything is wet, shavings, chips, straw, whatever, it is not good insulation. In cold climates sand can act as a thermal mass and provide some warmth on the unusually cold days.

Sand is probably the cheapest thing you can buy in bulk for something that big, but that depends on what is available. You could just leave it bare concrete but it’s usually good to have something to absorb the moisture in the poop. Bare dirt is not that bad. Nine chicks in a space that big are not going to drop a lot of poop, but you might want to watch out for it piling up under the roosts when they start to roost.

For this play sand is fine. If you are feeding sand to chicks to use as grit, play sand is ground up so fine it passes on through their system without doing them any real good as grit. But as bedding it will absorb moisture from the poop and will drain really well if it gets wet as long as it has a place to drain to. I don’t know what your cheapest or most available source of sand is, play sand, construction sand, or just sand from a sandbar in a creek or river.

If you have a source, wood shavings, wood chips, straw, hay, really dried grass clippings, Spanish moss, or about anything that is available will work as bedding. All you need is something that will absorb the moisture. Avoid cedar wood shavings because the fumes can cause problems with the chicks, but pine or aspen are cheaper anyway and work fine.

 

[aoxa]

You could buy a load of shavings from a mill pretty cheaply. We spent a fortune putting the first shavings down in our barn, and keeping up with it is costly as well. We bought by the bundle because I was nervous of getting cedar in shavings from a mill. I will look into it more in the future, but we just want a good compostable (ie: sand cannot be composted) option for us. We go through 10 bales of shavings within 2 weeks. It's craziness. We spend over $100 a month on bedding. Yeah.. no kidding.

You can get a big dump of shavings for $300 from what I've been told.

 

[Mtn Laurel]

My initial thought is to section off the coop so that they don't have access to all of it. That would go a long ways in reducing how much of anything you'll need for bedding. I'd give them an area in the coop of about 4 sq. ft. per chick - roughly 36 sq. feet - and allow them access to the run and not worry about the rest.

But, hey, that's just me!

 

[Folly's place]

I would also section off part of that great building, not give them the whole thing. Be generous; at least six to eight sq. ft. per bird. Hope you are adding windows and more ventilation generally also. I use shavings in my coop; they work well over dirt or concrete. Deep bedding is the easiest, IMO. I you section your building, it can be used for other things, or have separate pens for all your new birds next year.

Mary

 

[KesslerFlock14]

Hi everyone

So I had to move the chicks into their side of the old milk house early. It took a full day to get their side ready (they were already kicked out of the house though). The floor is solid concrete. I have sections for them to sleep with pine shavings, but the majority of the floor does not yet have bedding. There are no drafts, it's very secure. I'm going to start building a nice roosting area (currently some reclaimed wood propped up on bricks) and some nesting boxes for them. I'm going to redo the windows soon (so that they can open and are screened) and rebuild the doors so that there is absolutely no chance of a predator getting in the coop portion.
They have three windows - east, south, and west- that give them a lot of light all day long.
I'm going to look into the cheapest bedding (out of sand, pine shavings, straw, etc) in the area to make my decision. I like a lot of the benefits of sand (since I could sieve out the waste and continue to use it for a longer time).

 

[KesslerFlock14]

Add on:
Thank you all for your input! I feel better about making a decision now.

 

[ShockValue]

Heck, with that size of a building you could start an egg business for your town

 

[KesslerFlock14]

Heck, with that size of a building you could start an egg business for your town

Lol, I wish! I could keep up to 100 happy and healthy standard chickens. However, my mom has forbid me from buying any more chicks, fertile eggs, or chickens. She also doesn't think my chickens will live long. I am making every effort to make sure they not only live, but thrive. I'm hoping that one will be a broody hen and that I can expand my flock the natural way

 

[ShockValue]

Success is the ultimate revenge.