Sand or pine shavings in coop/run??

[Jess21687]

hey guys! We live near Madison, WI and have our coop and run ready but are just looking for opinions. Our yard is grass but can at times be patchy and I anticipate the three girls we have will have it down to dirt pretty quick. The coop itself is obviously all closed in and has a pull out tray under the roosts. Sand or pine shavings for this? The run will have the grass bottom and has a roof but should we put sand or pine shavings in this area when the girls get it down to mud? Looking for the option that’s most readily available and easy to maintain. Bonus points for cost effective!

 

[JaeG]

For sand to work it needs to stay dry so you can scoop the poop. You could look into 'deep litter' where you keep adding organic matter (shavings, straw, grass clippings, leaves etc) and the girls turn it into beautiful compost for you. It's probably the most easy to maintain.

 

[lazy gardener]

How tall is your coop? If it is a walk in, I would recommend that you do DL there. And I would definitely recommend DL in your run. I am violently opposed to sand!

 

[Jess21687]

For sand to work it needs to stay dry so you can scoop the poop. You could look into 'deep litter' where you keep adding organic matter (shavings, straw, grass clippings, leaves etc) and the girls turn it into beautiful compost for you. It's probably the most easy to maintain.

That makes perfect sense. For the deep litter method, I would worry about smell. Is this a huge issue? And then what would you do for deep cleaning?

 

[Jess21687]

How tall is your coop? If it is a walk in, I would recommend that you do DL there. And I would definitely recommend DL in your run. I am violently opposed to sand!

Our coop is about 4 feet tall and the pull out tray does have linoleum tiles for easier cleaning. But DL for the run sounds great. We mow the lawn at least once a week so it would give us a great place to toss this!

 

[jreardon1918]

We do pine shavings in the coop. Scoop the poop boards into compost pile. Very rarely we take all the pine shavings once in 10 months and add them to the run. Leaves and grass clippings, weeds all go in the run. The run is covered so it stays pretty dry. No smell. Will use some of the run material as compost for the gardens in the spring

 

[kcobbs]

We use sand in the coop and run. I also have a sand litter box under their roost. All I have to do is use a kitty litter scoop to clean. Also use urine stabilizer in sand to help with smell. Works great!

 

[rosemarythyme]

Deep litter shouldn't smell if done properly - the important thing is to have a mix of materials in different sizes, to allow for drainage and to keep the mix somewhat loose.

With litter I don't clean the run anymore. I scoop obvious poops only because I don't want to step on them but otherwise the materials just get tossed with a rake every once in a while if they get too matted from rain. Drainage is good and as far as cost effective, this is completely free for me - wood chips come from my own trees, grass and weed clippings from the yard, dried leaves get saved up during fall.