Topic of the week - Chicken run management

[PippinTheChicken]

Where do you get "cheap" hemp bedding?

We have access to ground-up tree cuttings, etc so we were thinking of going with that. I'd like to have access to hemp because I want to try new things and give the Laidies some new environmental discoveries.

I buy a big bag at my local feed supply shop.
You can also get it online

 

[PippinTheChicken]

They use it for dustbathing too since the hemp makes dust.
I use it for chick brooders too

 

[Gammas Bearded Babies]

They use it for dustbathing too since the hemp makes dust.
I use it for chick brooders too

Do u also use it for deep litter method in the run?

 

[Ascholten]

Is hemp dust safe? Not trying to be a smart ass but like DE dust can irritate their lungs, how fine does the hemp dust get, can it cause issues?

I have an inside part and an outside, but it's all fenced in, the inside is just covered really. I have a tractor and 4 birds in it. I have the steel skeleton of an IBC tote that I attached to give them roughly 12 extra feet to run around. I move it around once a week roughly, and the inside part, I use pine shavings. Every day I go out in the morning with tongs and pick the poop piles up and remove them. Of course you bring shavings with it, if it's a nasty one Ill grab a lump of shavings with the cecal squirt etc. Over time you need new shavings so I will just add them generally once a week as well. I have not noticed too many odor problems, even on wet weeks when I am working the bad shift and they end up locked up most the week it's not too stinky. Moving the tractor around also gives them new grass to root in and tear up, plus allows new area for the poop to settle into so you are not in essence, just adding layers of poop over poop.

Free ranging is nice but it's not always possible. As for the pine shavings, of course you can get them TSC, pet shops, feed stores, but if you have any lumber yards around, that can be a great source too. Also you can check with the companies or even your city, when they grind up trees and stuff on the roadways, where do they throw that mulch at?

Aaron

 

[Aunt Tat]

I buy a big bag at my local feed supply shop.
You can also get it online

Thanks! I'll check out my local feed supply shop!

 

[3KillerBs]

My current run is 100 feet of Premier 1 48" electric poultry netting -- vastly over-sized for the current flock of 5 adults and 4 juveniles. They have, nonetheless, destroyed every blade of grass so I keep dumping in pine straw, dried grass clippings, leaves, and straw.

I *would* use wood chips and/or shavings, but this area has to go back to lawn when the new coop is finished so I can't have chunky wood piling up there.

I haven't had to clean it in 11 months, just add more material and sometimes rake it if they've been digging ankle-breaker holes and there is no odor (possibly because I'm on incredibly well-drained, sandy soil).

 

[Ascholten]

if its that tore up, its going to be a while before it goes back to grass, even with all the fertilizer that's already down there. Wood chips will mulch into compost, adding to what your new grass can grow in. While you probably dont want to pile it 2 feet thick, a little bit I dont think would hurt much.
Aaron

 

[My Very First 6 Chickens]

i have mulch in my run with hard dirt underneath. Should i be raking it, or maintaining the mulch in run?

 

[3KillerBs]

if its that tore up, its going to be a while before it goes back to grass, even with all the fertilizer that's already down there. Wood chips will mulch into compost, adding to what your new grass can grow in. While you probably dont want to pile it 2 feet thick, a little bit I dont think would hurt much.
Aaron

I will seed it once I rake the pine straw out. I'll consider wood shavings, which break down faster, if the pine straw runs out, but I don't need wood in the soil robbing the grass of the nitrogen it needs.

i have mulch in my run with hard dirt underneath. Should i be raking it, or maintaining the mulch in run?

I periodically throw a handful of scratch into the run to encourage the chickens to dig into and turn over the litter.

You will probably find that, over time, the presence of chickens greatly improves both the fertility and texture of the soil.

 

[Ascholten]

The only problem with what B's said above is, if they free range, the chickens don't know the difference between regular lawn soil, where you have your garden planted at etc, and if they find a worm or two, will CONTINUE to dig. You may find foot deep holes, and if your strawberry or squash or blueberry vines happened to be at the edge of this excavation, well, RIP. If you are using them to 'aerate' your lawn, you will want to move where they are sitting every few days at most, you really don't want to leave them there long enough ie a week or so to tear it down to bare dirt and out by the roots, which I am sure you have seen by now, they WILL.

Aaron