Ohio coops!

[aziegler17]

Peeps from ohio!

What do you use in your chicken run as flooring?
Our feathered friends are still pretty small right now and I have left the grass as of now and fill in the dead spots with woodshaving bedding. Same as what is inside the coop.
When all the grass is dead I'm looking for something that works in the ohio climates all year round.

Any suggestions, tips or tricks are welcome! I have a small run/coop that is an all attached unit.


Thank youuu

 

[Brooks_]

Coarse wood chips from a tree service is said to be the best. However, natural mulch (not dyed) will work. Some use pine straw with good results.

 

[ChickyCh00k]

I'm not in Ohio, but I'm in Michigan, so similar climate (ish)... My run went from sand to pine shavings to cypress mulch. The mulch has been the best by far!

It's all about what works for you! If you post pics of your setup, people may be better able to advise based on the specifics. (Like is the run covered? How many sq ft? How many chickens?)

 

[aziegler17]

I'm not in Ohio, but I'm in Michigan, so similar climate (ish)... My run went from sand to pine shavings to cypress mulch. The mulch has been the best by far!

It's all about what works for you! If you post pics of your setup, people may be better able to advise based on the specifics. (Like is the run covered? How many sq ft? How many chickens?)

As soon as it stops raining here I will!
I had seen people using construction sand as a floor for the run. I wasn't sure if anyone near ohio/michigan/Indiana area had used that before.

 

[ChickyCh00k]

As soon as it stops raining here I will!
I had seen people using construction sand as a floor for the run. I wasn't sure if anyone near ohio/michigan/Indiana area had used that before.

LOTS of people use sand in our climate. However, if it isn't kept completely dry, it will stink to high heaven. Sometimes it starts to stink even when kept dry. I have a covered run, and was using sand for the first few months that my pullets were outdoors (and prior to allowing them to free range). I have 8 pullets and the run is 260 sq ft. I was out there scooping poop 3-4 times per day, and it still started to smell pretty bad after a couple months (there are remedies for the smell like First Saturday Lime or PDZ). I also did not want to scoop poops multiple time/day.

I switched to pine shavings in the winter and that was better - no scooping, just added more shavings as needed - no smell. Then, the shavings started to look kinda nasty and I knew I was always going to switch to mulch/wood chips (I just had to wait for spring, when the stores would have mulch again!). I spent an entire day shoveling the pine shavings out of the run, and replacing it with the cypress mulch, but I'm really glad I did. No smell, looks nice, I just rake/mix the poops in and they break down over time. I'll add more mulch as needed. It's the best substrate I've used out of the three things I've tried!

 

[aart]

If you have a place to store a big pile of wood chippings from tree trimmer, that's the best way to go IMO. I have space for pile and also an 8x50' run.

I have a small run/coop that is an all attached unit.

How small...pics?

 

[aziegler17]

Morning again!
I'm attaching pictures of the coop I am working with.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Very hard to tell how big that is from that angle, more photos from further back would help (or measurements). The unfortunate reality is with a small set up like yours, you're going to be doing a lot of cleaning no matter what, as you can't get the litter volume to do something like deep litter for example.

As ChickyChook22 noted, sand works best if it stays dry, and I don't know if you have the kind of set up that will allow for that due to climate and the fact that you're going to get rain intrusion in the run portion.

Back when I had a prefab I was pretty much having to use shavings and doing full clean outs every few weeks, as the litter got wet and/or stinky, but I don't have the exact same climate you do, so not sure what cleaning frequency you'd be looking at. Are the chickens confined in there around the clock, or will they be free ranging at all?