More questions..

[Acre4Me]

We have electric too. We plug in a heater for water. We add supplemental light on a timer for a total of 14 hours light a day - fall/winter only. We have a heat lamp hooked to a thermostat to turn on only if below 15F, but it hardly came on last year as the birds do warm up the coop a bit, even when the polar vortex came through, so not sure if we will keep it in there.

Our run is flat too. We had so much rain this past fall/winter/spring that we were thankful for the elevated coop we built, since we had water rushing through one side of the run during the worst of it (but never standing water). We’ve since made some adjustments. But, we contacted a tree guy and he brought us a big load of chipped wood. We lined the run with 2 layers of 2x4 (flat side out) to keep in the chipped wood and it ended up being about a 10-12” layer of chipped wood, which has settled a bit and the 2x4s keep it mostly in the run. We amended one side of the run with coarse sand, peat moss, sawdust, some dirt for a large dust bath area they love -it is loose and easy for them to dig down. Overall, building up the run area, once the grass is gone, will be beneficial.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Doesn't it pack down when wet?....and blow all over the yard?

I guess it would blow all over the yard if we let it, but we keep it in the hen house. What we use is cross-cut, pretty small, so it it blows, it blows away. We live in a clearing surrounded by a forest. Ours is the only house in about a one-mile radius. A little paper blowing around just gets incorporated with the general leaf litter and decomposes along with everything else.

 

[Ridgerunner]

You'll find that we use all kinds of different things in the brooder, coop, nests, and runs. Wood shavings, wood chips, hay, straw, sand, dirt, Spanish moss, shredded paper, carpet, linoleum, even some types of feed bags. Who knows what else? Some people hate certain ones of these while others love them. We all have different conditions, management techniques, and cleaning techniques and tolerances. It's no wonder we have different opinions on these. We have different experiences. In my opinion you should use something readily available, hopefully relatively inexpensive, and that works for you. Trial and error can help. If something doesn't work try something different. But try to think why it doesn't work for you. That can guide you to that something different.

My brooder is in the coop and has a 1/2" hardware cloth floor. It stays dry and the poop falls through to bins underneath. it's a breeze to clean but would not work that well if you brood in your house.

I use wood shavings on my 8' x 12' coop floor over dirt. When I built it I hauled in some dirt to raise my coop floor which keeps rainwater run-off out plus I put a berm/swale on the uphill side of my coop and run. I use droppings boards to reduce the poop load in my coop. It has great ventilation, and stays very dry. I clean out my coop floor once every three or four years, not because I have to but because I want that stuff on my garden. Other people clean daily or weekly.

I cut long grass from places I don't weed-eat or mow and dry it. That's what I use in my nests.

My main 12' x 32' run is dirt. About 2/3 of it is covered but rain still blows in from the sides. I've got that berm/swale on the uphill side plus the run itself is sort of elevated,the top of a slight high spot. It gets wet but drains pretty well. When the weather sets in wet it can get muddy, but I occasionally dump a bag of pea gravel in strategic areas so I can walk. The chickens have another area about 45' x 60' inside electric netting so they can get out of the mud. This works for me but it would not for a lot of people.

Your chickens will eat anything green in that run and scratch up the roots and eat those too. It will be bare. If your native soil is mostly sand it may drain really well and stay fairly dry. If it is clay it will not drain that well unless it is high. Water needs somewhere to drain to. They will dig dust-bathing holes in it that can stay wet. If it stays wet you will probably have issues, mud and smell. If you can get it to drain you should be OK. I would not do anything too dramatic yet, see if you have issues. If you have a low spot nearby a type of French drain or just a trench filled with sand or gravel under the run and running to that low spot might help a lot.

Chicken density is another issue. The more chickens you have pooping in that area the more the manure will build up. Some people use sand in the run and scoop poop daily to keep it from building up. With my area in that electric netting the chicken density is low enough that poop doesn't build up that much.

Some people turn their run into a compost pile. Toss in whatever you would normally compost. Kitchen scraps, garden wastes, grass trimmings, dead leaves, anything and everything organic based. The chickens will keep it turned for you scratching for bits to eat, including the creepy crawlies that live in it. Again moisture is the key. If it is too wet the anaerobic microbes take over and they produce a stink. If you can keep it dry enough that the aerobic microbes do the work you get a pleasant earthy smell and black gold for your garden.

Lots of people do what you are doing and make it work. I don't know what will work best for you, it may take a bit of trial and error to figure it out. Good luck!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Doesn't it pack down when wet?....and blow all over the yard?

Sorry, @aart, I got interrupted and didn't answer the other part of your question. When it rains, because the hen house door, which faces north, is open to the run, yes, some of the paper gets wet. It does pack down and this keeps it from flying around. I keep it only about an inch thick there when dry, so it's a simple matter to scrape it out with a flat coal shovel and toss it into the run for the chickens to turn over. It was pretty rich with droppings, it really would have been perfect for the garden but I was too lazy and there wasn't much of it.

Edit: typo. And another typo....

 

[drmolarmagic]

Hi Just wondering, the shredded paper is what kind of paper?
We have LOTS of newspapers to recycle and a shredder I'm thinking I will start using this paper.....and mix in the pine shavings etc.

 

[Ebony Rose]

Hi Just wondering, the shredded paper is what kind of paper?
We have LOTS of newspapers to recycle and a shredder I'm thinking I will start using this paper.....and mix in the pine shavings etc.

I use anything that isn't 'glossy'. Newspaper, note paper, old paper bags that aren't greasy, junk mail & flyers, the card stock found on many types of items bought at the store to make it easier for the market to display the item, all shred nicely. I even shred some corrugated cardboard when I get it.
I never shred 'thermal' receipts (like you'd get at an ATM machine and some markets) nor do I shred glossy paper such as magazines. These types of paper are coated with chemicals that may or may not be harmful to your flock; chickens will EAT some of the paper. Perfectly normal and if it's not coated, won't hurt them.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Does the newsprint on newspaper stain? I get my newspaper electronically now but the regular newspaper used to stain really badly.

 

[Trevorusn]

I will say this...granules of PDZ are fantastic at odor control, I use them under pine shavings for my egg boxes. Hands down superior to DE or coop freshener. I also use river/GP sand in the run/poopboard areas and it is absolutely awesome. Super easy to clean, and helps dissipate moisture. From what I gather, you only need to replace/resand once a year for hygiene. For me, the sand and PDZ are the way to go.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I don't know... just bags of waste from the bank where my husband works. It's all white, that's all I know. Once in a while a shred of paper will stick to an egg, but it comes off readily. What I like about it is that it is SOO absorbent, I practically never have to clean the nests. Just add more paper periodically.