Rookie!

Mylittleladies

Hatching
8 Years
Aug 27, 2011
7
0
7
Hello out there...this rookie needs some help! I just got my coop and my 5 ladies about a week ago (They're adopted!) Anyway, we have a tractor type coop 6 x 6 and about a 12 x 6 run for the girls....the move was tramatic, but as I've read if you have happy chickens they will produce! It took a couple of days of no eggs, then one egg....now I'm getting 5 for 5! Yeah! I have pine shaving bedding in their coop and under their perches, they have four nesting boxes 3 of which they poop in... and 1 where they actually lay eggs! It's the run I am beginning to wonder about, its taken them some time, but I can see that very soon there will be just dirt under their sweet little feet. I'm a clean freak and don't want friends that come visit to be put off by a poopy smelling coop or run. I clean the coop and change the bedding two times a week, but what can I do to keep the dirt from getting stinky? Any good advise would be gratly appreciated!.....I will have photos to post soon! Thanks in advance.....
 
welcome-byc.gif


If you have a stinky run, you will have to keep it drier.

If you've got a dirt run, get a metal rake and rake the poop into the dirt to help keep it dry.

I have a lot of acreage that gets mowed, so I'm always dumping a lot of grass clippings inside my run.

I let my chickens out to free range during the day, but before I get up in the morning (8AM), they're all stuck inside the run.


smile.png
 
welcome-byc.gif

My experience is that the run only smells when it rains and then it pongs! Take a rake now and then, rake up everything, or sweep it up with a yard broom, and dump it on your compost heap.
 
I put a bale of hay in my run and spread it around and left the remaining "lump" for lack of a better word, and the chickens kick it around and scratch etc. It dries out quickly and they like playing on it and picking at it. This is a large, round bale so I don't have to do it but once a year. I fork it into the coop as well so it's handy when using the deep liter method.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom