New Coop Completed Picture but may have a problem...with sand bed

[Rare Feathers Farm]

Do you mean IN the coop or in the run? I use deep pine bedding in the coop and deep sand in the runs. I use a rake and rake the runs about once per week in the spring/summer.

 

[darncat]

Thank you all for your comments!!

I never had hens before. So it is a tad embarrassing to ask alot of questions. As I live in a subdivision on a lake I am limited to having to contain the gals to the coop/run area.

As I also had it wired for electric I wasn't sure if a light would be needed. I also had a slide tray floor in the coop made for easier cleaning. The gals were not from this kind of setup and adapting slowly to the coop idea. First day had 2 eggs from the 4 hens and second day had 1 egg. Do not know if it will take a while for them to become happy hens. I am feeding them Layena and a little scratch since all that sand. The contractor should be stopping out to pick up his equipment and may ask him to put a trap door under the coop to be able to get access under there.

Thanks again for your help and kind comments!

 

[darncat]

Oh..forgot to mention...in the coop on the slide out tray I use pine shavings. The sand is only used in the pen.

 

[darncat]

Here is a back view of the coop/pen. Below the coop where it is wired in is where I was thinking on putting a wire door. The gals love to go up under the coop and makes it harder to clean. Also can see the slide out tray for cleaning that i use pine shavings on it. Easy to clean since it has a coated floor. Also the vent is shown in the picture and the windows on the front I had covered with wire for added protection. Also can see electric run to coop if needed.

 

[rebecky1305]

Very nice. And whether to scoop or rake is just a personal preference. I myself just rake the run about once a week to stir up the sand a little. The poop just gets mixed into the sand and decomposes. As someone else said, the sand keeps everything pretty dry so there is very little smell.
Oh and

 

[teach1rusl]

Yeah...it's a pain to access under the housing part of the coop, unless you like crawling around...lol. I put an access door along the backside of mine. My access panel is solid, but I would think your contractor could easily do a removable door framed with wire under the area where your slide out poop trays are. It makes it a lot easier to reach up under there

Lovely set-up you have there!

 

[darncat]

this is inside the coop before the RIR's ...you can see the slide out tray and the roosting bars. Insulated the roof and added a light. To the right you can not see in the pic is the nesting boxes. Under the slide out tray is a floor to walk on that is also easy to clean.

 

[Kat'sChicks]

.....I've used sand and leaves for 3 years now and am very happy with the combination. I dump leaves in on top of the sand in the fall and my chooks spend all winter playing in the piles and taking baths in the stuff. I don't do much scooping during the winter....they pretty much take care of things for me. I've been going out this week and picking out the big chunks with one of my horse forks.....we call it an apple fork.....but they're really isn't much to pick through. It's all in what you think you need to do......

 

[elmo]

Quote:
Aha! Thanks! Now I understand. Then there's simple answer to the scoop/rake question. If you want to remove the droppings from the sand, use a scoop. If you want to hide the droppings in the sand, use the rake.

I use a scoop to remove the big, obvious droppings. Then, I rake to hide all the teensy little ones that would be too tedious to pick up individually with the scoop.

 

[darncat]

Thanks for the info!

It is alot of different reading about it than actually doing it hands on and was starting to panic. I just need to breathe a little i guess.