Many questions about dirt floor coop and Deep litter/pests

[3KillerBs]

it seems that all the chickens will be doing is digging around in their own poop. I can’t see how it’s beneficial to them.

I won't try to change your practices -- I included "distaste for the idea of manure accumulating" as one of the cons in my article and consider it a legitimate point of view. But I did want to point out that since Deep Bedding dries the manure out rapidly so that there can be no bacterial action and that Deep Litter neutralizes the manure by composting it the chickens aren't actually walking around in sewage.

Lazy I'll agree to. I have enough things that I have to do and enough things that I want to do that I set up systems to minimize the have-to's so that I can accomplish the want-to's.

No need to deep liter or use pine shavings for your run,

That depends on soil, climate, and local ecology (the other day I was coming back from the coop with eggs and got photos of a dung beetle busily rolling away a ball of chicken manure). Also the chickens per square foot density.

Some people manage just fine without litter in the run. Others have a smelly wasteland without litter.

My ladies seem to like having litter. When I dump a fresh pile of pine straw or lawn clippings they go nuts digging in it.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I have never seen any evidence of a slaying, will the chickens kill it to eat it?

Mine would. They either peck them enough to break enough bones to soften it up enough that they can swallow it whole or peck it into bite sized pieces. I've seen them cut a frog to pieces. Mine really love to swallow a mouse whole after they soften it up.

because, that would be gross

To you, no to the chickens. That's the way nature works.

I don't need to do anything to get rid of them in there, do I? All food, water and shells are hanging, so nothing touching the floor but overflow.

Not for any of those reasons. A snake big enough to eat eggs may follow their tunnels into the run. That's not likely but it is possible.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

We're building a new run and I'm going to try the Justin Rhodes wood chip method for the run. Seems like a no brainer to let the chickens compost the wood chips and annually use it for my gardens. Currently I use sand in one run (which works great) and the other is dirt with straw I throw down as I have feathered feet bopping around. Growing anything in my runs is futile with 20 large birds. They free range almost everyday and still wear down any run quickly. Current run sizes 7x15 and 13x20 (365sq ft) both have perches, bales, etc for upward mobility. Both are attached (but separate) to a 8x17 shed/barn.

^^^ very consistent with my experience. I'd use wood chips if I had them - but I don't, so I make due with the leaf litter as its free. We are using the same method, with differing materials.

The key to both is cold composting. LOTS of "brown". As opposed to hot composting with fresh grass clippings and the like, where the Green/Brown ration is closer to 50/50.

Which isn't to say green can't be thrown into the run with the Brown, just that you want to keep the green a small fraction of the brown.

 

[goldenyears]

^^^ very consistent with my experience. I'd use wood chips if I had them - but I don't, so I make due with the leaf litter as its free. We are using the same method, with differing materials.

The key to both is cold composting. LOTS of "brown". As opposed to hot composting with fresh grass clippings and the like, where the Green/Brown ration is closer to 50/50.

Which isn't to say green can't be thrown into the run with the Brown, just that you want to keep the green a small fraction of the brown.

I have a buddy with a tree service and he just dropped off 11 yards of free wood chips - if he only coulda put it in the run!!!

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Did the moles kill your chickens? We have moles so that makes me nervous!

My birds would destroy moles, the same way they destroy mice... I can't imagine a mole big enough to challenge even a small chicken. Average weight on a mole is between 1 and 5 ounces, most around 3 oz. Everything I've ever hatched is at least that big by two weeks of age - At most, they might both compete for earthworms.

 

[3KillerBs]

Did the moles kill your chickens? We have moles so this makes me nervous!

The complete lack of moles and mole tunnels in my chicken run suggest that it's the other way around.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Yes, they would gobble them right up if interested, just as they do to baby mice. Would leave no trace. Chickens are dinosaurs.

 

[aart]

I'm not sure if a "skirt" of hardware cloth means to bury some or leave a few inches around the outside. (Pictures would be helpful)

Good examples of anti-dig apron installation.

If rodents are prolific, burying the apron ~12" would be good.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/wire-around-coop.1110498/#post-17093528
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/new-coop-project.1169916/page-2#post-18481208

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I currently have 11 chickens... I think 10 pullets. I'm not sure if I will be able to keep my two silkies in the same area as the other birds. I'll have to see how it goes. So... 9-11 chickens. I will need 110 square feet of run, minimum, right??
In East Texas, it has been raining like crazy. I may need to deep litter the run as well (after the grass is gone). Will I need to put something around the run to keep the litter in place?? I will have a hog wire run with about 3-4 feet of hardware wire around the bottom. (Maybe 3 feet and a 12 inch skirt???)

Nope, the hardware cloth keep it from being washed out, and your ground level will come up with time as it decomposes, which will help with water management, eventually.

 

[Reggan]

We're fortunate in that we can get free wood chips from the county and we have a buddy who does tree removal on the side.