New Jersey

[5Australorpasaures]

South Jersey, center of the Pine Barrens, chicken folks all over here. If we all lived closer to each other you could throw a rock and hit a chicken. Our closest neighbor is a quarter mile up the road. They started with some Barred and Buff Rocks we had given them 10 yrs ago and still keeping chickens. Yote got their rooster while back. Was able to replace him with another Heinz 57 breed from another local.

 

[KelseyBoxer]

Welcome from Salem county! Poop boards under the roosts help alot with scooping poop from the coop. I believe @DobieLover has an article about her beautiful coop and the poop boards. I use leaves, grass, old bedding , wood chips, and dirt in my run. When it gets too wet (after snow melt) I may throw in some hay but that takes a long time to break down so I usually remove it after it dries out.

 

[Cryss]

Poop boards will save your floor from excessive poop. I love love love poop boards! I use pine shavings on my floor and clean that all out once a year whether it needs it or not. I do it in fall and throw it on my gardens. It acts as mulch and fertilizer preparing for next spring. My poop boards are covered with an inch more or less of PDZ which is like sand but is absorbent and prevents ammonia odor. I scoop every day. Takes 5 minutes for 22 birds worth. I’m already there to gather eggs so it’s perfect timing. The ladies come in to check out what I’m doing or to sing with me. I love that time in the coop. Dirt is fine in the run. If you have mud problems wood chips, free from tree services, are natures sponge. Leaves are great fun for the chickens but be careful walking on them when wet. They get slippery as they decompose.

 

[CKfarm22]

Hi all, I'm in south jersey. New to chicken keeping. I've done countless hours of research but still have a few remaining questions:
1. Coop: if I use course sand in the coop, is there way to make the process so I'm only scooping 3 times a week?
2. Run: can the run be dirt? (It's grass now but I know the hens will eat it up fast) - my husband also mentioned gravel but I've heard mixed things.

We're building the attached henhouse
Henhouse 11.5'w x 9'd x 8.5'h
Coop 11.5'w x 3'd
Integrated enclosed/covered run 11.5'w x 6'd

Welcome!!

I use free mulch from our local compost place. I’ve heard gravel hurting their feet and they’ll kick all the gravel around to get down to the dirt. Dirt tends to compact very easily, so if that’s not something you’re worried about i don’t see why not. I prefer mulch as the chickens can use their instincts to dig around to search for things (bugs) underneath.

As for the coop, I use shavings. I haven’t used sand at all.

 

[HennyPenny44]

Hi all, I'm in south jersey. New to chicken keeping. I've done countless hours of research but still have a few remaining questions:
1. Coop: if I use course sand in the coop, is there way to make the process so I'm only scooping 3 times a week?
2. Run: can the run be dirt? (It's grass now but I know the hens will eat it up fast) - my husband also mentioned gravel but I've heard mixed things.

We're building the attached henhouse
Henhouse 11.5'w x 9'd x 8.5'h
Coop 11.5'w x 3'd
Integrated enclosed/covered run 11.5'w x 6'd

Welcome! I love your run/coop build. Whoever built it did a great job! If you don’t mind me asking, what’s the difference between the coop and henhouse?

I don’t have experience with sand but have always used pine shavings in the coop. I would scoop every day to avoid having to do deep cleanings. But it totally depends on how many hens you have per square foot in the coop. The more space they have, the less you have to clean. I did poop boards for a while that I scraped off every day too to make the scooping less work. In the winter, I use the deep bedding method because I didn’t want to scoop in the freezing cold.

As for the run, my favorite is wood chips I got from trees that were cut down. They take a good while to break down and they absorb excess moisture very well. Dirt can work but it will be muddy after rains and the flies will flock to poop that’s not covered with some sort of mulch.

 

[CKfarm22]

Wondering if anyone knows of any places that sell chicks around NJ. Except for TSC…. never again.

 

[5Australorpasaures]

I'm in Medford NJ. Glad to see I'm not the only one in NJ. Sometimes it feels like it.

Do you perhaps remember Rapp's poultry-egg farm. Across from Merritts and Bradley and Stowe. Another great old time feed store was Kirby's Feed. They used to grind all kinds of feed. I guess now from what I can see the only thing being ground are lattes. The old Medford Diner used to be where the Shop Rite is on Rt 70.

 

[Cryss]

Wondering if anyone knows of any places that sell chicks around NJ. Except for TSC…. never again.

V&R Homestead in Andover NJ has always been my place to go. Beautiful birds. No TSC for me!!

 

[5Australorpasaures]

V&R Homestead in Andover NJ has always been my place to go. Beautiful birds. No TSC for me!!

Got our Blk Aus from V&R. 2 hr ride for us, well worth the ride. Great healthy spunky chicks. Good variety of breeds. Let you know what type are coming in future hatchings on Their facebook page.

 

[CKfarm22]

V&R Homestead in Andover NJ has always been my place to go. Beautiful birds. No TSC for me!!

I’ll have to try, it’s about 2 hours from me and Ik my boyfriend is going to be like “2 hours for chickens?!?”