Partially covered run— best litter method

[Birdsong 82]

Deep litter looks like a great method and wish I could use it to. But I think it only works depending on your normal weather conditions and the positioning and location of your run.

 

[Crow-ded house]

Oklahoma gets monsoon rain, extreme wind heat and ice. So far this has been best option for our unusually wet year. Have not tested it thru ice yet.

 

[Birdsong 82]

We got monsoon type rain this year but it’s not normal for us but try deep litter A few years ago and turned moldy and stinky. Never seem to dry. But that’s what I mean about location of your run. Our property runs downhill to the back and the coop is in the back so a lot of drainage ends up back there. Read locating it isn’t really an option especially since a lot of the posts are dug into the ground.

 

[Sunny-Side Up]

I have two levels in my coop, and a run outside. In the top level I have wood shavings because it's completely sheltered and easy to clean out. In my run and bottom level of my coop, I just keep the dirt there. Maybe every two weeks I go out and dig it up and mix everything around so it doesn't get packed. I also add some sand every once in a while. I like the idea of having all sand and using a cat litter box scooper to clean it! I might have to do that to my coop...

 

[SunHwaKwon]

We got monsoon type rain this year but it’s not normal for us but try deep litter A few years ago and turned moldy and stinky. Never seem to dry. But that’s what I mean about location of your run. Our property runs downhill to the back and the coop is in the back so a lot of drainage ends up back there. Read locating it isn’t really an option especially since a lot of the posts are dug into the ground.

What were you using in it? I had that issue with straw and had to pull out out. Everything else seems to break down fine. You might want to add some gravel if your soil has a lot of clay.

 

[Birdsong 82]

There is a lot of play in my yard but not in that area and I think the chickens had to do with that. I actually used brought in my run and rake it out every few weeks. I would hate to add stone because they have created several dust bath in there. When I tried to use shavings like I do inside the coop it was just a wet mess Every time they got wet and then would have to add more shavings in it starts to get very very expensive. With a 640 square-foot run cover for it gets expensive quick. But they do spend most of their time free ranging so cleaning out the run is it too terrible

 

[Birdsong 82]

Another problem with my area is the run only gets son for half of the day

 

[Grits&Eggs]

I tried the deep litter, agree. I switched to a litter pan with a plastic work mat (with holes). I pull it out every day/other day and rinse it off and throw it back in and no poop on their feet. Love this since in the larger coop is a mess under the roosts and even turning the litter I get flies :-(

 

[Birdsong 82]

Have you tried a poop tray in the larger coop Inside my coupe I use shavings but with a poop board there I rarely have to clean inside the coop. I either scrape it off into a bucket or pull out the poop board and dump it every day to every other day. Then it goes right into the compost pile

 

[Birdsong 82]

I’m not sure how a litter pan would work for me. Coop is 8x 12 and run is huge. How do you use the litter pan? You use it inside the coop