Partially covered run— best litter method

[Coop de Grass]

is soil a good option? i have had a truck of soil delivered to my house and keep replacing the old soil with new, clean soil.

I will have to look into this, but I've had soil delivered for my garden and it was pretty pricey. Also, that would be mud when it rained. I am going to try Litter Life. I ordered it yesterday. Once that is down, I will start adding whatever leaves/grass clippings/weeds that I can.

 

[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.

 

[Beth the chicken mama]

I use sand and PDZ and DE and it works great, this is the best method and clean up is so easy with a Kitty litter scoop to clean the poop out.

 

[ChattyChickens4Life]

I like sand! the only drawback is if you don't scoop daily,, the poop clumps together and becomes rock hard. It also creates little poop balls on the chickens' nails. I think we might have to take them to the vet to get them removed. Take good care of the sand because it isn't as easy as a quick scoop through.

 

[ChattyChickens4Life]

The sand idea really intrigues me but I heard it is to be replaced once a year. That’s a lot of sand. What do you do with all that sand how do you get rid of it. And it would take enough sand where I would have to order a truckload. The closest place is still so far away it’s almost $100 delivery fee for a load of sand

you can wash the sand and reuse it

 

[LazytownChick]

My run in Maryland was ~800 sq ft and only a quarter of it was covered. If you are doing deep litter, you WANT it to get wet occasionally - that supports the breakdown of the material, just like in a compost bin. Make sure you don't have just one type of substrate. I would use pine shavings in the coops and clean those out directly into the run 2-3 times a year. In summer, grass clippings went on there, preferably after sitting out for a couple days but I did put them in fresh on occasion. In Fall, leaves, pine cones and pine needles went into the mix, and in winter I would add a bale of hay about every six weeks or more often if the ground was starting wet since it wouldn't dry out as fast in winter. In 4 years I never had to scoop out my run and no, it was not a stinky fly infested mess. If anything, it'll be the perfect garden for the new owners of they're so inclined.

This is similar to what I've been doing for the past two years. I have dirt floors in the run which helps the deep litter to break down faster. I also have a fully covered run which gets wet when it rains but it doesn't get muddy. It gets enough moisture to compost and since I leveled my coop on a sloped terrain the excess rain drains out the other side. I put a 2 ft apron of hardware cloth all around the perimeter for predator proofing. There is plenty of ventilation and I help my hens turn the deep litter every other day with a rake so there's no mold or smell. The picture below is from this when it was still cold outside and the coop was boarded up but it has a good view of the floor and deep litter. The south-side (sun facing side) of the coop is boarded up with plexiglass so it acts like a greenhouse and keeps warm in the winter. Also, that's my silkie Cream who is using the feed bucket. Silkies are the funniest little chickens!

 

[Birdsong 82]

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

I feel the pain of the 5 acres. Where I live until a couple years ago you had to have 5 acres to own one chicken. I live in an area where it’s a 20 minute trip to a grocery store. It’s kind of in the middle of nowhere there’s a little country store gas station a couple miles away with like three parking spots but other than that it’s 12 miles till you get to anything. But still required to have 5 acres to own chicken

 

[Birdsong 82]

We also have a no rooster rule. No roosters at all no matter the acreage. That never changed. I did get my rooster before I was aware of that rule. ever since I’ve lived here in the morning I hear 4 different roosters through the woods so I always thought it was OK It’s kind of one of those things where they’re not gonna pay attention to that unless neighbors complain. My neighbors said they can only hear my rooster when they’re already awake because the woods kind of buffer this sound so they don’t mind. Plus they think he’s gorgeous. And he is

 

[Birdsong 82]

you can wash the sand and reuse it

My run is about 650 ft.². That is a lot of sand to wash. LOL. I typically work 50 to 60 hours a week so that leaves little time to wash that much sand

 

[Crow-ded house]

This is what my three runs look like. The chooks love digging thru it. Wish we had this from the start. Deep litter is perfect for us as we both work 40 hrs/week. The sand was not good for us. The coop I use straw and pine shavings.