Please help with coop litter!

[lyndatu]

Breeds: We will be having 6 chickens, 3 breeds. 2 of them are silkies. (we changed chicken plans)

Coop size: Length: 72 inches
Width: 34 inches
Height: 60 inches

Run: Yes; Length: 72 inches
Width: 58 inches
Height: 30 inches

Free Range: Yes, but they will be tied with a tough string on the foot; Silkies with anti-telekinetic threads.

Rain: Quite often, maybe twice every week

Oh and what are wood chips?

Thanks in advance!

 

[PurpleChicken]

Good details.

For the inside I would definately use pine shavings. One bag will last several
weeks, especially if you clean daily under their roosts.

For the run I would use wood chips and/or anything that will repel moisture.
Woods chips are basically the chips that are produced when people cut down
tree and put them through a wood chipper. Here in CT I have a place that fills
my truck for $16. I'm not sure what is available where you live but you may find
something close.

Hay and straw hold moisture and are expensive.

I'm intrigued by chickens free ranging with strings. Have you seen this done?
It sounds like a broken chicken leg waiting to happen.

Please send me some of that magic thread and I'll send you some magic beans
to grow the chickens feed.

 

[lyndatu]

here at the Philippines, we usually "leash" chickens on the foot if we do not have a fence or cage....so far it works well...


Will paper shreddings do, too?

Thanks in advance!

Oh, and how do you clean wood shavings?

 

[muddler6]

I used shredded newspaper in my brooder when I used up what wood shavings I had. THe only problem was when the water got spilled, it soaked it up into a matted mess, but besides that it worked fine but had to change it more often than the wood. I also use shredded newspaper in my nest box. The girls seem to like it, but it does stick to the eggs sometimes but pulls right off. You can get newspapers from family, friends, co-workers, even in the morning at the coffee shop ("Hey buddy, you done with that paper?")

 

[Scrambled Egg]

"Free Range: Yes, but they will be tied with a tough string on the foot; Silkies with anti-telekinetic threads."

I just cannot imagine the tangle of chickens that I would come home to with this method!!!!!

 

[mdbucks]

Quote:
so you will have 4 REAL chickens and 2 Silkies


Quote:
This is done quite often. Certain types of chickens(which should not be discussed on this forum) that crow are often raised this way with each chicken having its own little barrel or mini doghouse to get into. They are teathered so they can not get to each other. If you really need to see I can take a pic next time I go to feed store, I pass a man with probably 16 teathered inside of a run(for protection from prditors).