Run floor... Don't think I'm doing this right!

[glloyd203]

This is a useful thread-- it's been raining buckets here too (are you in the south, OP? I'm in Atlanta and UGH, nonstop rain). We usually have done pine shavings, but they tend to get everywhere and in this weather aren't holding up. We'll try hay.

Yes! I'm in Atlanta too! Ugh all this rain has been killing me, the run has been sooo muddy. It looks like we're finally getting a break - fingers crossed! So you use pine shavings on the run floor usually? I've been using them in the ducks' house and they seem pretty happy so I'm thinking I'll mix them in on the run floor as well

 

[glloyd203]

A combination of materials will actually break down better (different sizes as well as types) and can include variety of hays/straws, grass & weeds mowed from around your property/yard, garden waste, pine straw & leaves. We've added pony manure (in small amounts - the chickens LOVE digging thru it. Ducks not so much). We found that shredded paper needed to be done in smaller amounts at one time, usually layered with pine straw and leaves if at all possible - shredded from phone books (yes, we still get a lot of those!), newspaper, junk mail, documents that are out of date or no longer needed.

You can "pack" 8-10" of loose material into your run and it will both actually pack down and break down in short order as they move it around and work thru it. For ducks, if you can move their pond/basin around, the water/wet areas will be more spread out instead of always being concentrated in one spot.

Once a decent layer of mulch, we put kitchen cuttings from fruits/veggies, foods turning (bread/buns, veggies, fruit, even meats in small amounts) on top. The chickens and ducks pick through it all and turn under what they can’t/won’t eat, mix it well while digging and poop on it and it’s all good!

As to the heights of your duck and chicken houses - if it's truly a problem, you can raise them on blocks (bricks or cinder type), wood pallets or even evenly cut pieces of lumber or wooden stumps from trees. I think you'll find that it really isn't a problem.

Once you start layering the materials as you use them, don't stir it around - let the birds do it. Any thing that is really wet around the duck's water (waterer or any type of pond/pool or basin), pick up and openly pitch into another area allowing it to dry out a bit and get worked into the rest of the mulch. Then move some of the dry litter around the water area. OR just put that dry material over the wet. It does break down!

I know of folks that have their runs set up so that the ducks have access to their fruit trees. They then use kiddie pools for the ducks to swim and play in. When it gets dirty and they want to change it, they literally dump it into the tree root areas - water and fertilizer in one! Some then move the run (portable) to other trees and do it all over again.

I don't recommend using the lime - is caustic to their feet & webbing and DE (or other products) can do some damage to the good things you want to break down the mulch to better smelling compost.

YES, ducks and chickens will eat straw (think a moment - wheat straw has wheat heads on it - used in breads and other products & oat straw had oat heads on it - some still on the straw when you get it). Eating a little isn't going to hurt them and adds some NATURAL variance to their diets. As long as they aren't actually starving, they won't usually eat so much that it becomes a problem. They also pick thru and eat some of the grasses, weeds and flowers, too. The main thing is to be sure you don't have anything that is treated with poison (don't get grass clippings from neighbors that spray their yards).

Over the past two years, I've found that hay and straw will both mat and can get blown or knocked into the yard. So do pine shavings, sawdust & shredded paper (the worst, LOL). For the matting - it works best to not have large clumps of any one product in one spot. For the "getting away", decide how much is too much and rake up and put back what you don't want in the yard. If it bothers you that much, don't use that product - but remember the DLM way needs to have different sizes of different materials to break down and to break down the poop the fastest (that is what reduces the scent).

Thank you sooo so much for your very detailed reply! This is incredibly helpful information and I really appreciate it! So do you recommend putting down a layer of gravel first before adding the various material on top?

 

[paintedChix]

I wouldn't add gravel. I don't want gravel/rock in my gardens or pastures where I apply the finished compost, so I wouldn't add it to the "floo" of the run or coop. But that's me.

 

[paintedChix]

Here are pics of some of our DLM. 2nd pic - black pile is well rotted hay from the year before moved from a different area into this run. I did pull it apart & sort of spread it around - to prevent it from sticking together/matting up/staying clumped up. Worked well, wasn't long, it just disappeared into the DLM mix.





Here's some pics you can see pretty much "depleted" litter in a different coop. Need to add more. 3rd pic shows more material added the next day (the date is typed wrong on the pic). You can also see a partial bag of large flake pine shavings. That was for chicks being brooded, they are now in loose in the coop run, so it's being added a little at a time to this as well. They like to sit on the bag while looking around.

 

[paintedChix]

And here is some pics in 2016. Same coop as the last 3 pics in above post. 1st pic - corner opposite a PuppyX pen that I use as a chick nursery. 2nd pic - shows chick with pine shavings in the puppyX pen. 3rd pic shows different chicks in puppyX pen with just the paper shreds 3.5 months later - you can't even see the pine shavings any more, but they weren't removed!



2016 different coop (2 pics) and 2017 (1 pic)



and in 2017 - I don't have any pics of the floor of this coop previously... This coop already needs another layer of material. Will post pics tomorrow of the difference between 4 May and 9 June.

 

[SunHwaKwon]

I wouldn't add gravel. I don't want gravel/rock in my gardens or pastures where I apply the finished compost, so I wouldn't add it to the "floo" of the run or coop. But that's me.

I didn't think of that. I don't dig out my run so it doesn't bother me if there's rocks, gravel, sand or whatever else in there.

 

[JacksonPearce]

Yes! I'm in Atlanta too! Ugh all this rain has been killing me, the run has been sooo muddy. It looks like we're finally getting a break - fingers crossed! So you use pine shavings on the run floor usually? I've been using them in the ducks' house and they seem pretty happy so I'm thinking I'll mix them in on the run floor as well

Yes! Pine shavings just got everywhere for us-- they kicked them out of the yard, got them jammed in the door closures, etc. I'm liking the hay so far, and I think it smells nice. Plus it doesn't get super red-mud stained, so it looked prettier.

 

[paintedChix]

But hay, by itself, won't break down very fast and can then start to stink with the chicken droppings. That black bale in my picture above is actually more than 2 yrs old and had been moved from the one coop/pen set up where we had it stacked to give our cats a place to hide out/lounge while we were in the process of moving and they were in an outdoor pen at friends' place, to a different pen stack set up, this one not covered with a tarp and finally moved into the run (also not covered) where it was in that pic. I opened it up and tore it apart so that it would mix with the other materials in that run and finish breaking down. That's why it's important to use different materials of different sizes - they break down at different rates. It's pretty amazing how "spongy" the DLM gets the runs - soaking up rain, "swallowing" the droppings and not smelling at all. I was SO "blown away"!

I swear the chickens in our one coop purposely throw the DLM into the door area of the coop - I'm always having to move it to shut the door again once I open it, LOL.

 

[glloyd203]

Yes! Pine shavings just got everywhere for us-- they kicked them out of the yard, got them jammed in the door closures, etc. I'm liking the hay so far, and I think it smells nice. Plus it doesn't get super red-mud stained, so it looked prettier.

I agree - I put a bunch of hay in there over the weekend and already their water is staying so much cleaner because the ducks aren't getting as much red clay in there!!

 

[glloyd203]

And here is some pics in 2016. Same coop as the last 3 pics in above post. 1st pic - corner opposite a PuppyX pen that I use as a chick nursery. 2nd pic - shows chick with pine shavings in the puppyX pen. 3rd pic shows different chicks in puppyX pen with just the paper shreds 3.5 months later - you can't even see the pine shavings any more, but they weren't removed!

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2016 different coop (2 pics) and 2017 (1 pic)

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and in 2017 - I don't have any pics of the floor of this coop previously... This coop already needs another layer of material. Will post pics tomorrow of the difference between 4 May and 9 June.

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Thank you so much for all these helpful pics! I've been working on it over the weekend and adding layers of hay and layers of leaves and other random yard debris (our yard was half forest when we moved in so we've been working on clearing it all, meaning there are lots of random piles of leaves, vines, and weeds everywhere!) So far it smells SO much better! And looks way nicer too. I am so happy!