Keeperoflock
Songster
OK, so if you would please clear up my confusion. I have 15 7 month old pullets. I'm preparing to winterize and my concern is about the floor of the run. It's a 12 x 14 covered roof run with a dirt floor.
Every night we go out and scrape up the poo from the floor of the run. I'm thinking about covering the floor with straw for... warmth, boredom busting etc. but I want to provide as clean an area as possible for chicken health and happy neighbors.
In the spring when they were really young I put down a light layer of straw and when it got wet from the rain blowing in they wound up with coccidiosis and the smell was pretty potent. We removed the straw and are now scraping up all the poo from the dirt every night.
My concern is that since we are enclosing the sides (leaving about a foot opening at top for ventilation) won't that create an odor and more moisture with the poo going to the bottom of the straw layer and just staying there all winter? I have read many posts that say they put straw in their runs and leave it for many months.
Also... Is it "healthy" to just drop their treats, scratch etc. in the straw where the poo is? I've read so many posts that say to just throw it on the ground for them to scratch for it.
What's your opinion?
Every night we go out and scrape up the poo from the floor of the run. I'm thinking about covering the floor with straw for... warmth, boredom busting etc. but I want to provide as clean an area as possible for chicken health and happy neighbors.
In the spring when they were really young I put down a light layer of straw and when it got wet from the rain blowing in they wound up with coccidiosis and the smell was pretty potent. We removed the straw and are now scraping up all the poo from the dirt every night.
My concern is that since we are enclosing the sides (leaving about a foot opening at top for ventilation) won't that create an odor and more moisture with the poo going to the bottom of the straw layer and just staying there all winter? I have read many posts that say they put straw in their runs and leave it for many months.
Also... Is it "healthy" to just drop their treats, scratch etc. in the straw where the poo is? I've read so many posts that say to just throw it on the ground for them to scratch for it.
What's your opinion?