Totally new at this....

[dasmiths0323]

Ok we have our coop done and the girls have been living in it for about 2 weeks... All I have been using inside is pine shavings and outside in their run is just grass... I keep reading you guys talk about Lime and DE and other things to put down, just wondering what DE is and what I should do before I start getting a poopy swamp or bad odors with flys? Right now everything is ok!
OH here is a pic of the Coop my DH built me, still have a few things to finish but its livable now and I have the chickens out of my house

Thanks!

 

[ThinkingChickens]

DE is short for diotemacious earth and is a food grade powder you can purchase at a feed store. The DE helps control flies as well as mites and lice. It can be sprinkled in the run and in the coop. Just follow the package instructions. As far as the run, once the chickens eat the grass the plain old dirt will be fine. They love to dig little holes and dust bathe in it. Pine shavings is good inside the coop but you can also look up sand. Sand allows you to pooper scooper the poop right out and into your compost pile. It might be a cleaner alternative. No poop means less flies.