Topsoil for chickens!

[Hollysaurus]

Why soil at all?

People who use sand use it as if it were a sort of litter box -- where you have to scoop the poop regularly, even daily.

Where, in general, are you? The people who are happy with that system over the long term are almost always in a dry climate.

I just thought soil would be the way to go I guess? Our chicken coop is on a concreate pad, so at the top we have pine shavings where they lay/sleep at night, but the open part of the coop is on a concreate pad and I would rather put something down. So you're saying I should crap the soil and get Washed River Sand? They don't spend much time in the coop anyway because of our garden (we also have a emu and 2 ducks) So they're out with them all day. We're in Idaho and it's been very hot, so I just bought a solar fan which is coming soon and wanted to put something down on top of the concreate so they can come in and cool off.

 

[Hollysaurus]

Thanks for clarifying intent of use. So it's for the run.

Yes, I'm sorry, can you tell I'm new? haha, It's for the run.

 

[3KillerBs]

What organic bedding do you buy?
The soil would be used for the bottom of the coop, the outdoor caged part not inside the coop itself where they lay. I have pine shaving up the top for at night. Our coop is on a concreate pad so I wanted to put something down and I wasn't sure what.

The usual terminology is that the enclosed shelter area is considered the coop and the open (sometimes roofed), wire area is considered the run.

My own practices are mostly covered in this article: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/using-deep-bedding-in-a-small-coop.76343/

Being on concrete makes some difference, but I'd still favor some kind of ORGANIC material -- a "brown" in compost terms -- to interact with the chicken poop in order to neutralize it.

Coarse wood chips, the kind you get from a tree trimming service, are usually considered the gold standard for the management of odor and mud. But since you're on concrete mud isn't an issue.

Could you post photos of your setup so we can see exactly what you're dealing with? Open or roofed will make a big difference in possible management.

 

[Hollysaurus]

Post some pics of your coop(where they sleep) and your run(the outdoor caged part).

Also....Welcome to BYC! @Hollysaurus
Where in this world are you located?
Climate, and time of year, is almost always a factor.
Please add your general geographical location to your profile.
It's easy to do, and then it's always there!
View attachment 3197530

Thank you! I can add all that? I shall go do that now! I'm in Idaho, it's very hot atm!

 

[Hollysaurus]

The usual terminology is that the enclosed shelter area is considered the coop and the open (sometimes roofed), wire area is considered the run.

My own practices are mostly covered in this article: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/using-deep-bedding-in-a-small-coop.76343/

Being on concrete makes some difference, but I'd still favor some kind of ORGANIC material -- a "brown" in compost terms -- to interact with the chicken poop in order to neutralize it.

Coarse wood chips, the kind you get from a tree trimming service, are usually considered the gold standard for the management of odor and mud. But since you're on concrete mud isn't an issue.

Could you post photos of your setup so we can see exactly what you're dealing with? Open or roofed will make a big difference in possible management.

Ive attached some images of our coop! I hope this helps.

 

[3KillerBs]

How many chickens do you have? How old are they?

Those little prefabs, unfortunately, always claim to hold many more chickens than they really should hold and managing bedding and litter for them is always difficult -- in part because they're short on ventilation so ammonia builds up.

Are they confined in the little coop and run or do they have a larger area to roam?

Since you're going to have to change out the bedding in that small space frequently, large flake pine shavings are probably the most economical and the easiest to handle. They do need to have bedding between them and the concrete both to protect their feet and to give them somewhere to dig and scratch.

 

[Hollysaurus]

How many chickens do you have? How old are they?

Those little prefabs, unfortunately, always claim to hold many more chickens than they really should hold and managing bedding and litter for them is always difficult -- in part because they're short on ventilation so ammonia builds up.

Are they confined in the little coop and run or do they have a larger area to roam?

Since you're going to have to change out the bedding in that small space frequently, large flake pine shavings are probably the most economical and the easiest to handle. They do need to have bedding between them and the concrete both to protect their feet and to give them somewhere to dig and scratch.

We have 4 chickens at the moment, two are 3 months old and the other 2 are only nearly 1 month old (They're still inside with us) We recently bought a solar fan pack, my husband will be installing it when it arrives, he will be taking the vents out that you see and replacing them with fans so there is more airflow in the coop. This coop said 6-8 chickens, so thought it would be alright with 4, since they're only in there at night.
We have a large back garden so they run around the garden during the day.

Would you suggest pine shaving on the run too? or the sand you mentioned? or soil?

 

[3KillerBs]

We have 4 chickens at the moment, two are 3 months old and the other 2 are only nearly 1 month old (They're still inside with us) We recently bought a solar fan pack, my husband will be installing it when it arrives, he will be taking the vents out that you see and replacing them with fans so there is more airflow in the coop. This coop said 6-8 chickens, so thought it would be alright with 4, since they're only in there at night.
We have a large back garden so they run around the garden during the day.

Would you suggest pine shaving on the run too? or the sand you mentioned? or soil?

The Usual Guidelines

For each adult, standard-sized hen you need:

• 4 square feet in the coop (.37 square meters)
• 10 square feet in the run (.93 square meters),
• 1 linear foot of roost (.3 meters),
• 1/4 of a nest box,
• And 1 square foot (.09 square meters) of permanent, 24/7/365 ventilation, preferably located over the birds' heads when they're sitting on the roost.

4 hens

• 16 square feet in the coop. 4'x4' is the only really practical build for this given the common dimensions of lumber.
• 4 feet of roost
• 40 square feet in the run. 4'x10' or 5'x8'. 6'x6' is a bit too small, 6'x8' is more generous and easier to build than 5'x8'.
• 4 square feet of ventilation. A 2'x2' window is theoretically enough, but in practice doesn't create any air FLOW so better to spread the venting around (and even better to exceed the minimums, especially in warm climates).
• 2 nest boxes, to give the hens a choice

Many people have converted their prefab coop-and-run combo into a small coop then added a larger run to it: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/my-renovated-prefab-coop.1440258/

I'm not a fan of sand myself. I like Deep Bedding and Deep Litter and making compost for my garden.

As I noted, the people who are happy with it long-term are almost always located in a dry climate. If you think it might suit your needs and you don't mind daily scooping you should certainly try it because that's the only way you'll know.

If it doesn't work you can change to something else. That's one of the things about chickens -- there are many methods that work and different people like different things.

 

[Hollysaurus]

The Usual Guidelines

For each adult, standard-sized hen you need:

• 4 square feet in the coop (.37 square meters)
• 10 square feet in the run (.93 square meters),
• 1 linear foot of roost (.3 meters),
• 1/4 of a nest box,
• And 1 square foot (.09 square meters) of permanent, 24/7/365 ventilation, preferably located over the birds' heads when they're sitting on the roost.

4 hens

• 16 square feet in the coop. 4'x4' is the only really practical build for this given the common dimensions of lumber.
• 4 feet of roost
• 40 square feet in the run. 4'x10' or 5'x8'. 6'x6' is a bit too small, 6'x8' is more generous and easier to build than 5'x8'.
• 4 square feet of ventilation. A 2'x2' window is theoretically enough, but in practice doesn't create any air FLOW so better to spread the venting around (and even better to exceed the minimums, especially in warm climates).
• 2 nest boxes, to give the hens a choice

Many people have converted their prefab coop-and-run combo into a small coop then added a larger run to it: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/my-renovated-prefab-coop.1440258/

I'm not a fan of sand myself. I like Deep Bedding and Deep Litter and making compost for my garden.

As I noted, the people who are happy with it long-term are almost always located in a dry climate. If you think it might suit your needs and you don't mind daily scooping you should certainly try it because that's the only way you'll know.

If it doesn't work you can change to something else. That's one of the things about chickens -- there are many methods that work and different people like different things.

If the chickens are free range and run around my garden daily, they only go in the coop to sleep, or the run to eat/drink, do I still need to follow these guidelines?

My husband can literally build anything, He built the car from Jurassic park, built guns, knives, tables, chairs. You name it he can build it. We only bought a coop because we've renovating our house atm too so we thought buying one would be better then spending time to make one at the moment.

But I mean we can build one if it's necessary? I just didn't think it would be since they have free range of our garden all day and only go into the coop at night. Please let me know!

 

[Tonyroo]

If the chickens are free range and run around my garden daily, they only go in the coop to sleep, or the run to eat/drink, do I still need to follow these guidelines?

My husband can literally build anything, He built the car from Jurassic park, built guns, knives, tables, chairs. You name it he can build it. We only bought a coop because we've renovating our house atm too so we thought buying one would be better then spending time to make one at the moment.

But I mean we can build one if it's necessary? I just didn't think it would be since they have free range of our garden all day and only go into the coop at night. Please let me know!

No you don't need to follow the guidelines. But understand your limit of chickens for sleeping in the prefab coop. Four chickens should be the limit for the prefab coop and assuming you have full size chickens.