IdesofBlue
In the Brooder
Hi y'all! Still in the process of building my coop and run. The byc community on reddit is much smaller so I asked them some questions because I'm quite overwhelmed by the size of this community, but now I think I need more opinions/advice.
My coop is 4'×6' and the run will be underneath and extend another 4' so it will be 4'×10'. I plan on putting a gate on the end because I want my chickens to be able to free range with supervision sometimes. But they seemed concerned that I wouldn't be able to clean the run very well since its mostly under the coop.
First of all, I thought a run under the coop was quite common. Second, I didn't know the run needed substrate such as shavings or hay. Is this necessary? If so, is it really that hard to clean shavings or hay from under a coop? I mean with the gate and a rake I feel like I should be able to handle it. They basically suggested I scrap my plans and build a tractor.
Now I'm waffling and my coop is half built, I need to make a decision quick!
TIA
My coop is 4'×6' and the run will be underneath and extend another 4' so it will be 4'×10'. I plan on putting a gate on the end because I want my chickens to be able to free range with supervision sometimes. But they seemed concerned that I wouldn't be able to clean the run very well since its mostly under the coop.
First of all, I thought a run under the coop was quite common. Second, I didn't know the run needed substrate such as shavings or hay. Is this necessary? If so, is it really that hard to clean shavings or hay from under a coop? I mean with the gate and a rake I feel like I should be able to handle it. They basically suggested I scrap my plans and build a tractor.
Now I'm waffling and my coop is half built, I need to make a decision quick!
TIA