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jeanne25

jeanne25

In the Brooder
8 Years
Apr 23, 2011
21
3
32
St. Louis, MO
Hi all!
I'm new to chickens too! I've been lurking and reading in BYC. What a great site. I've learned a lot. My husband and I just got 8 new little chicks, about 5-6 weeks old. I ordered a coop online, supposedly for 6-8 chickens. When it arrived and we put it together, it is way too small for 8 chickens. It's also not very functional. I have to get down on my hands and knees to get the waterer and feeder out to fill. I wish I had found this site before I ordered the coop!! Oh well
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Live and learn!!
We have looked at almost every one of the small and medium coops on BYC and are building our version of a coop using a little of this and a little of that!
My question is that most of the pictures look like the ground is covered with gravel and then topped with sand. It looks clean and tidy and easy to rake clean. My husband is afraid that the gravel/sand will harbor bacteria and not be easy to keep clean. He wants to build a moveable run that will attach to one side of the coop, and then when the chickens have picked it bare, we'd move it to the other side. I'm afraid it will become a muddy mess.
I'd like to build the coop and run all in one, stationary, with the gravel/sand floor, and let the chickens out into the yard to pick and roam.
Any opinions, suggestions, warnings??
Thanks for any advice you can give us.
jeanne
 
Welcome to BYC. I recently added 1.5 cubic yard of sand in my pen...wished I'd done it years ago. It absorbs rainwater... no more gullies and washouts, keeps the fly population down to a bare minimum and it's much easier to keep clean. No gravel though, IMO it could cause foot/leg problems or injuries especially if a rooster is chasing a hen around in the pen.
 

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