Small run overrun with flies - what are we doing wrong?

[serenden]

One issue is the shavings aren't an ideal base. Deep litter isn't simply building up a thick layer of litter (that's more deep bedding) - you need a mix of materials to get composting going. Chunky aged wood chips are ideal because they allow aeration and drainage, both which help with the composting and keeping mud and odors at bay.

All that said, I think the unfortunate reality is with a small set up you're going to have a difficult time getting the volume of litter needed to allow you to be hands-off in managing poop. I know you just built this extension, but a larger and taller run would allow you to go in and scoop up daily, which would solve the issue regardless of litter choice.

I see what you're saying... We had a conversation about the height of the run before it was built, but being first timers, just didn't have any hands on experience to go by. Now I see why a taller (and larger) run would make quite a difference.

Also, I appreciate the clarification on the deep litter for composting vs just deep bedding. I get it now!

Thank you for sharing your perspective, it's very helpful!

 

[serenden]

Yes.

Also, coarser bedding and a mix of materials allows the process to work better in my experience.

If the mulch you have around your tree is natural -- undyed and untreated -- that's the stuff to aim for as a base for the leaves, lawn clippings, etc. to mix into.

But you'll probably still have to clean out more often than you would if you had more space because the litter can only handle so much poop.

That mulch is likely redwood, from the local landscaping place. I know redwood isn't ideal for chickens, but we had it all over the yard already, and they sure enjoy scratching in it.

It sounds like we'll be scooping poop pretty often, but will think about changing to a coarser and/or mixed bedding and experiment in that direction.
Thank you so much for your help!!

 

[3KillerBs]

That mulch is likely redwood, from the local landscaping place. I know redwood isn't ideal for chickens, but we had it all over the yard already, and they sure enjoy scratching in it.

It sounds like we'll be scooping poop pretty often, but will think about changing to a coarser and/or mixed bedding and experiment in that direction.
Thank you so much for your help!!

You're welcome.

We were all new once and learned from those who came before.

 

[The Tiny Homestead]

I'll bet they love the plums!

I mostly use pine straw in my run -- because it's free for the raking on my property.

A lot of people use coarse wood chips of the kind you get from a tree-trimming service.

Whatever you use, it needs to have enough volume to break down and neutralize the poop.

By pine straw, do you mean pine needles?

 

[3KillerBs]

By pine straw, do you mean pine needles?

Yes.

Here in the southeast we have Longleaf and Loblolly pines with needles from 6-12" long. The shed needles are raked up and used for landscape mulch and animal bedding.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I see what you're saying... We had a conversation about the height of the run before it was built, but being first timers, just didn't have any hands on experience to go by. Now I see why a taller (and larger) run would make quite a difference.

Also, I appreciate the clarification on the deep litter for composting vs just deep bedding. I get it now!

Thank you for sharing your perspective, it's very helpful!

I went through this too. I figured my run didn't need to be covered so height didn't matter, and that bending over to clean out the coop was fine by me (though I did plan to build a bigger coop if we continued going forward with chickens). I didn't think about litter in the run at all. But thanks to my back being awful and a hawk killing one of our girls, and a huge mud/muck issue in the run, we had to make alterations sooner rather than later.

It's a learning experience for sure. Sound like you're open to trying different things to find what works for you, so hopefully you can find something that makes it as easy as possible for you to maintain the coop and run, or make alterations as time goes on to allow for that. Best of luck!

 

[Katanahamon]

We have a small coop (from TSC) and we built an attached run for it that is about 6'x3'. We have 4 chickens, about 14 weeks old. We're using large flake pine shavings (also from TSC) in both the coop and the run. No issues in the coop. The chickens are let out into our suburban garden for about 2-3 hours a day. We live in the SF Bay Area of California.

The problem is -- we waited about 2 weeks to clean out the run, and were totally overrun with flies, especially after a heat spell. So, apparently we need to clean it more often or do something different. I'm reading in the forums that many people do a deep litter method in their runs and only clean it a few times a year, but doesn't the cecal poop build up? And does that work in such a small run? We can spot that poop in the yard because the flies just swarm around it, so we pick it up.

So after cleaning out the run and adding fresh pine shavings and some DE, I've been going out and crawling into the run (about 4' tall) to search and scoop out the poop each day, but really don't care for that line of work if there's a better way. Also, with the large flake shavings, it's not easy to scoop.

My questions are, then, should we change the run bedding material to make it cleaner and easier to scoop out poop (and decrease the flies)? We added the shavings because the chickens had poop all over their feet so we thought that some bedding would be better than dirt.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated!

Regardless of how you change your setup, the others have given great advice..I’ve been using a couple of these and gave my neighbor one..they work amazingly well, and I also ordered the fly larvae predators from Arbico to put around the coop and in the compost! Expensive, but great, and other, cheaper traps that have the same design work too, but, I can’t say enough great things about this trap..I use the commercial bait in water in the pie tin underneath, and throw some fresh chicken poop in too for good measure..this trap simply dries the flies out..no disgusting fly mess to clean out, you unscrew it, dump dry flies, that’s it..discard pie tin if it gets too gross and start over..
edit..if you buy, I took apart and sealed with Thompson’s water seal..also, put the pie tin on a piece of wood, place trap over, once filled with bait, you really don’t want to touch it, it stinks big time..easier to pick up the whole thing on a piece of wood to move..

 

[Dlepage]

We have a small coop (from TSC) and we built an attached run for it that is about 6'x3'. We have 4 chickens, about 14 weeks old. We're using large flake pine shavings (also from TSC) in both the coop and the run. No issues in the coop. The chickens are let out into our suburban garden for about 2-3 hours a day. We live in the SF Bay Area of California.

The problem is -- we waited about 2 weeks to clean out the run, and were totally overrun with flies, especially after a heat spell. So, apparently we need to clean it more often or do something different. I'm reading in the forums that many people do a deep litter method in their runs and only clean it a few times a year, but doesn't the cecal poop build up? And does that work in such a small run? We can spot that poop in the yard because the flies just swarm around it, so we pick it up.

So after cleaning out the run and adding fresh pine shavings and some DE, I've been going out and crawling into the run (about 4' tall) to search and scoop out the poop each day, but really don't care for that line of work if there's a better way. Also, with the large flake shavings, it's not easy to scoop.

My questions are, then, should we change the run bedding material to make it cleaner and easier to scoop out poop (and decrease the flies)? We added the shavings because the chickens had poop all over their feet so we thought that some bedding would be better than dirt.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated!

Sand is your answer!!! Google sand in chicken coop. My coop is entirely sand no straw or shavings. I have two deep nesting boxes filled with chopped straw for my 4 chickens . I scoop the poop every day and we have no flies or smell. Both the coop and the run are 6 inches of sand over a galvanize steel wire mesh. Nothing can dig it’s way in. So easy to keep clean