Thoughts on uncovered coop run flooring?

[sprede]

Hey there everyone,
I have a questions regarding what type of outdoor floor bedding I should use for my specific location and setup that I have.

We now live in Layton Utah which is North of Salt Lake City. Currently renting so this setup is somewhat temporary. I have 4 hens in a 10x10 chain link dog kennel with a 36 sq.ft. (fits 5-6 chickens) Chicken Coop within it. The top of the dog kennel is currently covered with bird netting only and in the summer will cover it with a black shade mesh type tarp (not sure what it is called but we used it in the past to shade our puppies in Nebraska during the summer). Within the coop I am using Pine wood chips which is working out pretty good since cleaning doesn't take but 15 minutes.

The problem occurs outside the covered coop within the confines of the 10x10 kennel. As expected the chickens have killed the grass and now it is just soil. While there was snow and ice on the ground things weren't so bad but now that it has has melted away there is a nice mud mess. I can only image what this will be like once spring hits. Drainage doesn't seem to bad, there is one small shallow pit area that I can easily fill in to level out. The area is sloped so there wouldn't be standing water once those low areas are filled.

Weather in this area... Snow in the winter with bouts of dry warm weather that melts the snow. Spring is rainy and things tend to mud up. Summers are hot and dry (85-100).

Attached is a picture of what we got going on. The black tiles you see was just a quick easy idea to keep cold from blowing under the coop during some really cold nights. Those will be gone soon.

Oh forgot to mention that we do let them out each day for anywhere from 2 to 4 hours depending on what we got going on.

I have been reading about people raving about using sand and then I have heard others doing just fine with hay.

Question for you experts after seeing this setup. For the external uncovered area seen, would sand be a better option or hay? Which would be a better option to keep the flies and smell minimized? Any other advice is also welcome.

Thanks in advance!

 

[DobieLover]

Cedar oil is toxic to chickens. I would remove it immediately.
Does your municipality collect branches seasonally? If so they generally offer shredded wood free to residents.
That is what I use.

 

[sprede]

I was just about to change that as I meant to write in there Pine Chips not Cedar. So you use shredded wood outside in the open area or in the coop?

 

[DobieLover]

I was just about to change that as I meant to write in there Pine Chips not Cedar. So you use shredded wood outside in the open area or in the coop?

Whew! That's good that you don't have cedar shavings in there.
Yes, wood chips in the outside run. The chickens love scratching around in them too. They are easy to rake out to keep air circulating and speed drying.

 

[Chicken crossing the road]

I’m a fan of the covered run, it keeps the litter dry and the ground under it dry. More so now that it is winter. I used a combo of sand for base ( mostly to cover the hardware cloth I laid down) then wood chips, straw, leaves etc.
deep litter is great plus they can still dig holes in the DL to dust bath in the dirt below. I made a dust bath area but they don’t always use it.

A suggestion if you keep this set up ( looks good by the way) cut a hole in the chain link big enough for the nest box to stick though slid coop over to the other corner then you won’t have to step in poop to get the eggs.

 

[sprede]

Very good idea but this setup will be temporary and I don't want to cut the chain link. Once we are in our own home I will build a permanent covered structure. For now just looking for ideas to get by. I am thinking, just from reading around, that straw or hay would be my best bet rather than sand. At least that is the way I am leaning right now.

 

[DobieLover]

Very good idea but this setup will be temporary and I don't want to cut the chain link. Once we are in our own home I will build a permanent covered structure. For now just looking for ideas to get by. I am thinking, just from reading around, that straw or hay would be my best bet rather than sand. At least that is the way I am leaning right now.

Straw and hay tend to mat when wet and will mold heavily.

 

[thecreekhouse]

I have a coop and run that are movable so that I can relocate my set-up onto fresh grass when the run gets too worn down. I move it before anything g gets actually muddy. Here’s a photo of my coop and run. The coop was built by Smoky Mountain Chicken Tractors and the run is a movable fence from Omlet.

 

[sprede]

Straw and hay tend to mat when wet and will mold heavily.

So you're more a fan of the sand then?

 

[sprede]

View attachment 1662220 View attachment 1662221 View attachment 1662217 View attachment 1662218 View attachment 1662219 View attachment 1662220 View attachment 1662221 View attachment 1662221 I have a coop and run that are movable so that I can relocate my set-up onto fresh grass when the run gets too worn down. I move it before anything g gets actually muddy. Here’s a photo of my coop and run. The coop was built by Smoky Mountain Chicken Tractors and the run is a movable fence from Omlet.

Love your setup. Seems you have a good amount of land? Not that lucky here for now anyways.