So I'm new to all this....

[KayTee]

Your coop looks great! If they have access to your yard all day then it will be fine for them to have just straw in the nest boxes and pine shavings in the run area (much easier to clean up poop than directly off the floor - it sticks like anything!)

When I first free ranged my girls in the garden I used to go out every 10 minutes to check they were ok - I was so worried! Now I leave them all day, with no problems at all. It's natural to be concerned at the beginning, but it's also good - you need to make certain that they don't get into any areas you don't want them to, or find things that you have overlooked.

 

[DarleneE]

KayTee I thank you SO much!! You have helped me SO much!! Yes I really am worried about having them loose out there pretty soon. I am also worried about how I'm going to get them back to their coop!! I'm praying they will bee able to find their way on their own soon really. But.. since the coop is in the lanai, they will have to walk out the door, across the pool deck and THEN to the grass.. SO that's a little tricky. Though I've been told by many that they are very smart and that if I lead them in and out with treats that they'll soon find their way on their own..?? But who knows.. it'll def be an "experience"!!

 

[DarleneE]

Daisy and Olivia!!

 

[azygous]

I know how excited you are about your new pet hens! I bet you love them more already than you thought was possible!

As long as you "coop" them up for a couple of days after you move them into the new coop, they will imprint on it as "home", and then when you let them out to explore the bigger world outside their coop, they will always know to return to it at night.

It's customary to move chicks into the coop between six and eight weeks. I would enclose them in the coop part for a day or two, with food and water, then let them have access to the run section. That way, they will know the coop is where they are to sleep. Some people make the mistake of putting them in the run, and then wonder why the chicks can't find their way into the coop at night to sleep. A few days after that, you can start letting them into the bigger yard to explore, and they will find their way home by themselves when they get tired of being out. You won't need to worry they won't.

Give a little more thought to what you want to do with the "floor" of the run. Chickens are notoriously messy, scratching any loose dirt they find, uprooting any grass in very short order. Poop will be everywhere. There are two kinds of poop, by the way, nitrates, which are quick to dry and innocuous, and cecal, which are gooey, brown, smell to high heaven and stain permanently any surface it is on. You will want something absorbent and easy to clean up. You might want to consider installing a dike around the perimeter of the decking and bringing in sand or Sweet PDZ. Keeping the poop cleaned up will drastically reduce the flies in summer, which where you live is most of the year!

 

[DarleneE]

Yes!!.. I AM totally crazy about them!! They're SO sweet..they jump up on me and all!! Thank you so much for all the information!! However.. I'm not following you on that last part and I apologize!! Are you meaning building something around the pool deck?? Or were you referring to around the coop?? I'm not sure exactly what you mean by a dike either?? You have full apology for being a dummy here!! I am very interested though in what you're telling me..if you don't mind explaining in just some more detail?? Thanks so much!!

 

[azygous]

I bet you never realized how affectionate chickens were, and it's totally taken you by surprised that they love to be cuddled! My five and six-year old hens still adore being held and snuggled.

You said your run, the open area off the coop, was being built on a wooden porch decking. If you just leave it bare wood, the poop will soak into the wood, staining it, and it will be impossible to keep clean. My idea was to put some kind of edging (dike) around the edges of the porch to hold sand or some other porous material in place so it won't get flung off by the chickens. Some will because those feet are like earth moving equipment.

The one thing that surprises new chicken keepers, besides how affectionate their new pets are, is the amount of poop they will have to deal with, and in your area, that means flies.
Sand in a run makes it super easy to scoop up the poop every day, like you do with a cat's litter box. Sweet PDZ alone, or mixed in with the sand, keeps odor away, and thus no flies. When you can all but eliminate the flies, you will really be able to enjoy those two adorable pullets.

Also, one of the super-best tips I got when I first got chickens was to make some poop boards to slip under the roosting perch, so in the morning, all you have to do to have a pristine, sweet smelling coop is to rinse off the poop board! I cover mine with linoleum scraps, and cleaning is a breeze. Chickens don't automatically have to mean a smelly coop and run. And flies.

 

[DarleneE]

Wow you have some awesome ideas!! But NO, however the coop is being built on a tiled lanai!! The coop/run itself is made out of plywood!! What I was gonna do was to put either shredded paper as one man suggested or else straw in the nest area and pine shavings in run and under the roost. The sand and the PDZ (?) that you mention though seems a lot easier to clean!! I'm going to ask my husband if he can maybe build up the sides all along the run and perhaps we can do just that!!?? One question though.. do the chickens then live and run around in all that sand?? Is that ok for them?? I'm sorry.. probably sounding really dumb now.. But I truly don't know the first thing about any of this and am trying hard to learn.. and FAST!! Thanks again!!

 

[azygous]

Well, you're way ahead of where I was when a friend gave me two of his wife's grown hens after she died. I hadn't the first clue!

The advice I'm offering is gleaned from six years of trial and error, and building and re-modeling my coop and run several times, until now it's just great for my flock of twenty.

I started out with wood chips in my coop and run and nest boxes. They were adequate, but too chunky to be absorbent. I went to wood shavings in the coop and nests, and I am very satisfied with that material. It's easy to keep clean, and I love the smell. I got rid of the wood chips in the run and hauled in a couple inches of construction sand. I bet you have access to beach sand there. Make sure it's washed. I'm not sure the high salt content would do the chickens any good, since they'll also be utilizing it as grit.

Sand in the run provides fun digging and scratching, and on really hot days, I wet it down with the hose and they just love to hunker down in it to keep cool.They "dirt-bathe" in it, and here where I live, it holds the heat during winter and provides warmth on below freezing days. I scoop the poop several times a day with a cat box scoop (with twenty chickens, there's too much poop to just do it once a day like you'll be able to do) and it stays odor-free and nice to play with the chickens in.

So, am I to understand that the floor of the run is plywood? If the sand gets wet, it will rot out the floor eventually, unless it's sealed really well. But it can work. Will the run floor be elevated with air space underneath?

 

[DarleneE]

Yes the floor is about 4" off the ground. Well I LOVE your idea of sand with some PDZ!! However my husband does not. He feels the it's going to be too much of a mess when they start kicking about and throwing sand all over the lanai. I say big deal.. that's why they make brooms right??!! But he's just NOT having it. SO this leaves me back to the first idea which would be the wood/pine shaving and on one side we were thinking of putting a couple squares of sod for them to peck around on when they're in the coop. That's about all he's agreeing to at this point. I think it'll still be a lot more work than your great idea of the sand!! I'm just wondering how often I'm going to have to change those pine shavings?? I'm thinking I can use a small rake and toss them around.. then obviously change them out altogether when they're real soiled??!! Do you think the grass pieces in there would be a good idea?? I'm SO enjoying chatting with you and I just LOVE your ideas!!

 

[azygous]

Well, you only get half a vote, so don't make waves. My bet is you'll end up with sand after he see what a horrible mess the wind and the chickens make with the wood shavings out in the run. Wood shavings are great in the enclosed coop, and I wouldn't have anything else, but outside, they will get sodden if the wind blows the rain in, and the chickens will fling them about and they'll end up everywhere. You mentioned you have a pool? Is it down wind of the coop and run?

Don't rush this. Think it through with your husband carefully. Go on the BYC forum for coops and runs and post a thread and have a discussion there about your plans. There are many, many more terrific ideas out there you will benefit from hearing. Don't just stop here with our conversation! That's the beauty of this website! The experience is here so you don't have to make the costly, inconvenient mistakes we've all made.

Best of luck to you!