Oregon

[Stephanie R]

Hello. I'm in Salem. I have two Buffs, one Barred Rock, and one Black Australorp. I think one of my Buffs may be a cockerel, but at 14 weeks there has been no crowing, so ... fingers crossed. I'm a new chicken owner, and still have lots of questions. But for now, they are seemingly happy and healthy, and the sweetest little chickens.

 

[Stephanie R]

I have pine shavings in the coop, and hay in part of their attached run (the rest of the run is grass). For me it's a matter of ease in keeping the coop clean. I can just pick up the poo in the pine shavings. Harder to do with hay.

 

[Stephanie R]

Tillamook

I was born in Tillamook. My cousins grew up there and one still lives there. Do you know David Kelly?

 

[T-traveler]

Stephanie,
We are in Salem also (just outside the city limits on the East side). We have pine shavings in the hen house (deep litter method) and sand in the run. If you're not familiar with the deep litter method, do a search on this site. We have poo boards under the perches which get cleaned about once a week and the pine shavings get replaced about once or twice a year. We have 24 girls (14 laying hens and 10 pullets that should start laying in a few months).

 

[Stephanie R]

Stephanie,
We are in Salem also (just outside the city limits on the East side). We have pine shavings in the hen house (deep litter method) and sand in the run. If you're not familiar with the deep litter method, do a search on this site. We have poo boards under the perches which get cleaned about once a week and the pine shavings get replaced about once or twice a year. We have 24 girls (14 laying hens and 10 pullets that should start laying in a few months).

I am just outside the city limits on the west side. I considered sand in the run of the coop, but decided to go with pine shavings. I only have four chickens, so cleaning up the poo takes but a couple minutes a day and the girls like to gather round to see if I unearth anything interesting, so it's actually kind of fun. I completely remove all the pine shavings once a month and replace with new. In the interim, I clean up the poo, and add more shavings as needed. I rake up and dispose of the hay in the outside run once a month and replace with new, which they go crazy over. Now, in the winter we'll see how it goes. Probably won't be nearly as good about picking up the poo every day.

 

[T-traveler]

Another thing I like about the sand in the run is the fact that I can soak it completely with water during the hot weather that we've been having and it cools the run by about 10 degrees. We have clay under the sand and it slopes to the side and back of the run where we have french drains, so the water doesn't puddle up at all. During the daytime we free range the girls, so they only come into the run when it's really hot or when they're ready to go to bed. They sit outside the hen house for about 1/2 hour and take turns going into the hen house. It's really fun to watch them one-by-one climbing up the ramp to the doorway and heading inside.

 

[Stephanie R]

Another thing I like about the sand in the run is the fact that I can soak it completely with water during the hot weather that we've been having and it cools the run by about 10 degrees. We have clay under the sand and it slopes to the side and back of the run where we have french drains, so the water doesn't puddle up at all. During the daytime we free range the girls, so they only come into the run when it's really hot or when they're ready to go to bed. They sit outside the hen house for about 1/2 hour and take turns going into the hen house. It's really fun to watch them one-by-one climbing up the ramp to the doorway and heading inside.

These last couple of weeks have been killer warm. I have lots of shade for the chickens, and I gave them cold melon, and ice in their waterer. There's also a large ceramic pot with water in it, and I threw in a block of ice. They liked to perch on the side of the pot to get cool. I'm still thinking about sand rather than pine shavings, once I use up what I have. Do you use fine sand like for kid's sandboxes, or something more course?

 

[T-traveler]

I use standard washed river sand. It has some larger particulate than sandbox sand, but chickens need the larger pieces for their gizzard to work properly.

 

[Stephanie R]

Where do you get that?

 

[sktlmt]

Hi I am in SW Portland and I have had a run of Broody girls and now have way too many chicks. I would love to sell some of them and recoup some of the money I have spent on feed. They are all mixed breeds. Most have some Rhode Island Red and Austerloup in them. Some have welsummer and cream legbar. The current batch is 7 weeks and the boys and girls are fairly obvious. I have another clutch due to hatch is a week. I love my chickens but 29 and 17 more to hatch is too many!
They are all happy free range chicks and would like new homes where they will have room to roam! PM me if interested.