Run bedding options

[Thatscluckinggreat]

Wood chips or undyed single ground mulch. Dry and absorbs the poop very well. Add leaves and grass clippings etc if you want. No cleaning needed.

 

[21hens-incharge]

Do you guys ever scoop out all the old bedding then or just keep in there and wait for decomposition? Waiting to calrify, thank!

Scooping it all out would mean having to start all over from scratch.

I never remove it all. I just rake back the top/bulky material to get to the fully composted stuff and only pull a few 5 gallon buckets at a time of that. I add as much as I have available and neighbors donate fall leaves too.

 

[RubelliteRose]

The original part of our run has sand. The newer part is deep litter. The sand portion is scooped twice a day and must be regularly raked/hoed to keep the sand from compacting like concrete. So much more work!
The deep litter portion is a combination of pine bark nuggets, pine straw, hay and used pine shavings from the coop. I think I raked it once after we had rain everyday for several weeks, but that is about it for maintenance. That portion is about a year and a half old and we have not scooped any out as we are still trying to build up the level in case our property floods again( hasn't happened since we got chickens 2 1/2 years ago). If you have a mix of materials, you will have fewer problems with poop staying on the top of the litter
The only part of the sand that I like is that I don't need to buy grit and it does drain fairly quickly after rain. But since I don't have a good place to put it and I also don't want to move a whole pickup truck worth of sand again, the sand stays for now

 

[WIchickMama]

I don't remove it I use the deep litter method.

I do not ever remove all of it either.

I use mulch, dried leaves, grass, and then my coop material gets scooped out (again not a full just partial clean out) twice a year into the run. Coop material is pine shavings and chopped straw.

 

[aart]

I use mostly coarse wood chippings from a tree trimmer, but I have space to store the huge pile they dump on my land and have pretty good drainage so no long lasting puddles.
I do add some dry fallen leaves in the fall, or some soiled nest straw on occasion. I also have had to add some pine shavings during winter thaws.
I add some chips on occasion, especially in the fall so there's a good layer going into winter.
There's no need to remove any poops ever, the wood does wonders at decomposing the poops.

 

[Genene]

Why add lime?

Pest control and freshening.

 

[3KillerBs]

I currently have pinestraw in my run but it's very hard to scoop the poop which I fear is why I have a terrible fly issue now. This leads me to a couple of questions...
1. Do you scoop your run (run, not coop!) daily?
2. I've read that sand Ian great option but continue to be confused on an affordable sand option for the run. Would anyone kindly send me a link or attach a photo of the bad of sand they use?
Pinestraw is 50 bucks a box here which seems awful pricey to me. Hoping sand is less?

I love pinestraw specifically because it doesn't pack and mat like some other materials do. Of course the pine straw I rake off my own property may not be the same species and may not have the same qualities.

I never scoop my run, ever. I do remove compost from the deep litter system sometimes, though I'm not getting as much of it as I'd like to.

I have never personally tried sand, but everything I've read about it leads me to believe that it's only viable in a dry climate with a well-covered run and for people who have the personality to enjoy the daily chore of scooping. To me daily scooping lies somewhere between unbearable tedium and nightmare-chore.

I was concerned about a build up of poop too and the bacteria that brings. Thoughts?

The composting action of a deep litter system breaks down the coop with healthy bacteria and deters the growth of bad bacteria.

Pine straw compresses down and doesn't decompose as easy as other mediums.

Get some wood chips and put in there.

The fact that pine straw doesn't break down as fast as straw or shavings is one of the reasons I like it. That, and the fact that it always dries quickly on the surface after even the heaviest rain.

That said,

Coarse wood chips of the sort that come from a tree-trimming service are indeed considered the gold standard for the control of mud and odor. I use them too -- because I think that a mix of various materials is superior to any one material alone.

Do you guys ever scoop out all the old bedding then or just keep in there and wait for decomposition? Waiting to calrify, thank!

I let it compost, harvesting it for my garden when it's ready.

 

[Ccort]

Pine shavings in run!
I have a 600sq foot run and I don't ever mess with the "floor" in it...just add shaving as needed.

I tend to clean their coop out abt 1x every 2 wks. So I add that bedding to the run, and fresh bedding to the coop.

Here the run floor

My house is 1000 square feet. Lol you have a very nice setup

 

[Hedgeland Farms]

My house is 1000 square feet. Lol you have a very nice setup

Lol thanks! It's a circle, and after running the calculations for figuring Sq ft. Of a circle..again lol my guess was a touch off... its 530sq ft

 

[rosemarythyme]

I'm in and out of the run a LOT and the way the poop sits on top of the pinestraw, it ends up all over me!
I'm thinking hemp bedding might be a good alternative, although also expensive.
I plan to add leaves but have come to realize I don't have a lot of extra material to add and do not have the space to store extra materials either.

Can you get wood chips in your area? Or what else is available that you wouldn't have to pay for? All your options are $$ it seems, so aiming for cheap/free is the way to go. If you don't have a lot of vegetation on your property, how about neighbors? Folks are often thrilled if someone else is willing to take their fall leaves, summer grass clippings, etc off their hands.

I haven't tried daily scooping because they poop so much that it seems like once I'm done, I'll be right back where I'm started!

Well yes it's a daily thing but not that time consuming. In bad weather or whatever I just skip it as the poop can compost in place anyhow.

I use the poop I do gather for my compost bins and to amend the shrubbery and stuff on my long driveway.