Sand, pine shavings, wood chips....oh my!

[smithwickchick]

Hi, everyone!

We're brand new to the chicken world and I think we've done well so far. We got our six "ladies" at a day old in late April so they're about 15 weeks old. Their pen/run is under our 16'x13' deck and their 8'x4' coop is inside the pen. Right now the "floor" of the pen is dirt, but we have an overabundance of flies. I've read many, many different suggestions on what to put down, but I still don't know what to use! In one article it says to use sand so they have something to bathe in as well, but then another says don't use sand because it can be ingested. We have pine shavings in the coop and that's been fine, but we have no tree coverage and pine shavings would just be blown everywhere. Does anyone here have any thoughts or good luck with what they use in their runs?

We and our ladies, Annie, Caramel, Clarabelle, Fluffy, Luna, and Mabel thank you!

 

[smithwickchick]

Anyone?

 

[MoonSkin]

I've had luck with pine sawdust. Note, not the powder stuff but, the product of simply grinding the wood. Its common as horse bedding. It stays fresh smelling, coats and dries up poo, flies hate it and hens live it for scratching.

 

[smithwickchick]

Thank you for the response. That is exactly what we're using in the coop. Maybe we will try it.

 

[Big Bubba]

Thank you for the response. That is exactly what we're using in the coop. Maybe we will try it.

I've found keeping it dry is the most important issue. Make sure the girls can bury their business or you clean it out on a daily basis.

Also, look into DE - Diatomeacous Earth. It's effectiveness is debatable, but I think it has helped.

 

[Beckaberry]

I gotta say, I am a huge lover of straw in our run. It is hours and hours of fun for the ladies and they love to relax in it too. It keeps the dirt from turning to mud and elevates there feet from the muck too. I do change it out about every week and a half or more often if it's very rainy, but have no complaints. Into the compost pile it goes and everyone is happy.

 

[smithwickchick]

I've read that straw can be harmful to them if swallowed. Not the case?? I'm glad you said, "It's hours and hours of fun...". I've been wanting to get something in the pen so they're not bored. Suggestions for "toys"? Can I go to the pet store and grab some of those wooden bird toys they have? I've heard mirrors are fun for them, too.

 

[RonP]

Have you searched the "deep litter" method?

 

[mamabear72]

Hi, everyone!

one article it says to use sand so they have something to bathe in as well, but then another says don't use sand because it can be ingested. We have pine shavings in the coop and that's been fine, but we have no tree coverage and pine shavings would just be blown everywhere. Does anyone here have any thoughts or good luck with what they use in their runs?

Hello and WELCOME!

now onto my novel......

I'm a newbie too, our four girls are around 21 weeks old and I've tried a couple different methods for our coop and run area. First we brought in two truck loads of river sand, it's course and was "supposed' to drain any rain off quickly. We live in Reno, NV so it doesn't rain often however since we've had chickens we've been experiencing excessive rain for our area. The first time it rained I thought I'd die of the smell the next day, it was putrid and up until then I'd NEVER smelled anything. A couple days afterwards it was dry and the smell was gone but I was panicking for a while there. In addition to sand I mixed in a 50 lb. bag of Sweet PDZ (a.k.a. zeolite ~ a remnant of volcano ash/rock) That stuff is AMAZING, kills off smell like nothing else! I also added to an area that they claimed as a dust bath some food grade diatomaceous earth to ward off any little buggies, but looking back I think that was overkill. I made a scoop out of 1/4" hardware cloth over a pitchfork, another littler one and even converted a wire deep fryer basket scoop into a little poop scoop. I was diligent about scooping a couple times a day but as they got older it got harder and harder to keep up with their ever growing "presents" as you can see in the picture I made every type of scoop known to man to make it easier....eventually I bit the bullet and bought two big bags of pine shavings and a bail of straw and decided to try the deep litter method. It's definitely easier as I simply turn the little daily and add some sweet pdz if it happens to get rain on it but it's been about two months of my new litter and it's NOT decomposing like everyone else's seems to do. Maybe it's because other than our freak torrential rain, it's bone dry here, I mean almost NO humidity in this high desert. It only smells if it gets overly wet and in the mornings before I turn their coop litter I can smell a bit of funk but before I give it a quick turn, I spritz a mixture of lavender and citrus essential oils in there (along with a quick spritz on the girls bums, to ward off any wayward flies)
So both methods, sand and deep litter have worked well, sand was MUCH more work but I'm also questioning whether our "deep litter" will ever break down and compost so I'm not totally sold on it either. I forgot to mention it's REALLY windy here, ALWAYS which is another reason I didn't enjoy sifting the poopies, dust blew everywhere. Now just the shavings make their way al over the yard but thats ok because I'm not worried about getting "black lung" like I was scooping sand in the wind every day. Try one way and if it doesn't fit your family then try something else, the chickens won't care either way, they'll just be happy your out there with them

Kristen & the girls.....Muh-naa-naa (barred rock) Nandos (red sexlink) Fluffer-nutter (easter egger that looks like she belongs in Jurassic Park) & Goldy (buff orp...I know real original name...not)



WHEN WE HAD ALL SAND AND ALL MY CRAZY SCOOPS...I WAS DESPERATE TO MAKE IT EASIER

 

[Irishhenman]

I use the Balfour system for my main run. The coop is in a scratching run, and that run is connected to 2-3 other grass runs. You could have your run like the scratching run that I have. Basically you treat it like a compost pile. You put in what ever organic material is available to you, like lawn cuttings, Autumn leaves/hedge trimmings, straw, wood shavings, shredded paper, weeds from the garden, old bedding from their house etc and let the chickens scratch through it and let it compost. Then once a year dig out the compost and let it rest for 6 months and it is brilliant for your garden. As long as you keep it dry it doesn't smell.