Partially covered run— best litter method

[Crow-ded house]

After my little darlings turned their run into a barren wasteland, I put sand in one run, deep litter in another and the third was half n half. After two weeks, I went deep litter. I put sand as my base, on top of that a thin layer of straw/pine shavings mix then sticks, grass. Then the county mowed the sides of the roads and we went out everyday raking up tons of grass weeds whatever was mower leavings. It took only a week and we have 4 inches of deep litter. With our rainy weather as of late, I just pick it up with a pitchfork, fluff it then flip. The underneath is dry so this way the wet goes under. The chooks dig down to the sand for their baths. I will gather leaves this fall. I just wish we had pine trees here. All we have is cedar and they are no use for me as chicken use. We work 40 hrs/week and with three runs, noone has time to scoop poo and it just got smelly and flies still were around. Deep litter is constantly being worked by the chooks and no smell or flies whether wet or dry.

 

[woodenfarm]

Have not used sand before so no advice on it.

But if there is a chance of the shavings getting soaked I wouldn't. You might get mites bad or the wetness might make your chickens sick.

 

[Birdsong 82]

I personally use shavings in the coop and straw in the run. The deep lotter method does not work for me And I don’t use sand because my ran is just too large and I don’t know how I would get rid of it to switch it out once a year. LOL it’s a lot of sand. I’ve heard both methods are great but only depending on where you live and your conditions. Deep litter works great for some areas and not for others same with sand. I think deep litter didn’t work for me because I only get certain light back there for about half of the day so I too was getting mold.

 

[blackdog043]

I have 3 chickens. I already have a coop but want to extend the run. I am thinking of either a concrete base or an untreated wood base, either option covered in sand. How large does a run have to be to comfortably accommodate 3 laying hens?

Why do you want concrete or wood for a run base? Your chickens won't be as happy as they would be with a dirt base and deep litter to dig in. If you use sand you will have to scoop the poop frequently to keep it from compacting and becoming a stinky mess, especially if your run is not covered.

 

[Aerliss]

it turns out you needed 5 acres to 1 chicken in South Brunswick Twp, NJ.

5 ACRES?! Are acres smaller in NJ than other places or something?

 

[Beer can]

I don't add anything to the runs, don't have to clean it if you don't add to it.
Coops are deep litter no poop boards. Add free dry tree leaves in the fall and free sawdust when I have it. Only clean the coop when I need some for the garden. Looks like dry powdered dirt no smell. Gets a pile of frozen poop under the roost in the winter but come when it thaws out the birds rake it up and mix it in and it disappears into the litter pretty quick.

 

[Noreaster Egger]

I use a mix of materials, but I got my hands on a lot of wood chips this spring and it makes a world of difference in the run. I just keep building it up and up as the chips break down. I used to have drainage issues in the run, but now the chips absorb water and the excess drips through and runs out since the floor of the run is now a good 6-12" higher than the yard around it.

I use koop clean under the coop and some of that spills into the run too.

 

[aart]

For it to really work you need a mix of materials in different sizes, to allow for drainage and to allow poop to mix in as well.

YES!!!

Bigger stuff helps the water drain down into the ground.

Also allows infiltration of air/oxygen to keep things aerobic... rather than a slimy anaerobic mass of nasty.

Mix of sizes, shapes, and materials is KEY .....
...too much of any one ingredient, especially the smaller more fragile ones like grass, hay, straw is not going to work.

 

[MROO]

Never thought about draw in the run.....
To bad allergic to hay and straw. I tried the straw in the the coop and sneezing and welts bad time.....

Try pine needles and leaves. They're cheap (free!,) naturally draining and the biddies love to root through them for bugs & such. They also compost naturally, so when you do clean them out, they can go directly into your garden or under your trees!

 

[Coop de Grass]

5 ACRES?! Are acres smaller in NJ than other places or something?

It sure seems that way. Yes the requirement for even 1 chicken was 5 acres until December 8, 2017!
In our township you can now have 8 chickens on an acre. I think that is because I told the board that I wanted to keep 8 because it looked like we were not going to get variance. We won by one vote, so I am glad that I did that. Then they said that I couldn't replace them as they died... That is no longer the case because of the changed ordinance.Also no roosters but I knew that wasn't going to happen. I also had to shut down my business which was selling hatching eggs and day old chicks.

Officially 4 chickens on a 1/4 acre, and 8 on an acre, which doesn't make much sense... my math says 16 chickens on an acre. My 8 have relatives who visit on a rotating basis...

All of my adjoining neighbors say ! But they miss the roos and are giving the 1 guy who is furthest from the chickens the We are taking the high road and ignoring them. We had been the only people on our street who spoke with them at all. Guess we know why no one else was. Still, it was worth giving them a chance, and in the end we made chickens legal in South Brunswick!
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