Using A Tarp To Lower Ground Temperature

[Elspeth Dinsmore]

I hope it works out for you.
Take photos of it all when you get it put up

Will do, Ms. WyorpRock! They should be coming soon!

 

[Elspeth Dinsmore]

Wow!!! lucky chickens

That is super awesome! Wow. Seriously happy chickens.

Thanks, y'all! That's very sweet of you and very encouraging for us to hear!

 

[Elspeth Dinsmore]

I am interested in this composite run idea, right now my ladies are on dirt (only a few months old) but I hated all the work and cost of changing out wood chips weekly to keep down the smell. Do you know where I can find more info on it? I have tons of pine trees and never at a loss for pine needles but I doubt that is as good as leaves/grass.

Here is something my momma typed up for you:
"We are first time chicken keepers and our chickens are only about 1 year old. We are certainly not experts on composting so we hope someone with more experience can give your their knowledge. It was far enough back that I researched this that I don’t remember the resources I used at the time. Here is my understanding which I hope helps:
Chicken droppings are high in nitrogen while things like dead leaves (or wood chips) are high in carbon. People that know a lot more than me about composting often have lists about different sources that are high in carbon that are often called “browns” and different sources of nitrogen that are often called “greens”. My understanding is that you want about 20-40 parts carbon rich materials to 1 part nitrogen rich materials to encourage good composting. I think the way many people accomplish this is by putting about 6-12 inches of carbon rich (brown) materials down in their chicken yard, run and/or coop. Then as the chickens poop, the chickens themselves are adding the nitrogen rich component to the composting system. As they scratch around, they incorporate their poop into the thick layer of carbon. Microorganisms that are already in the dirt floor (that is underneath the 6-12 inch layer) and the other materials get to work breaking things down. This controls the odor because instead of chicken poop just sitting on top of a hard dirt ground being smelly, it can be incorporated into the carbon rich thick layer and begin composting down. Many people remove the bottom layer after a certain amount of time to use in their gardens. They then add more browns to keep the process going. This is often called the deep litter method. I don’t have any experience with pine needles in composting so hopefully someone else can help you with whether that is a good source of carbon that breaks down well in a chicken composting system. I do remember that many people use wood chips to accomplish this composting system. The idea isn’t to put a small amount of wood chips down that needs to be replaced. It is to make the wood chips very deep so that the ratios are correct and expect that the chickens will turn the floor compost by scratching and digging. Some people use a free resource that I think is called ChipDrop to get wood chips for their chicken yards and runs. We did not need to use this resource because we have enough dead leaves and grass clippings from our own yard. Hopefully, someone with more experience will come and point you to more resources for your own situation. If not, my guess is that you could learn a lot by using different combinations of these search terms: composting run or yard, deep litter method, carbon rich, nitrogen rich, ratios, browns, and greens."

My momma is awesome!

 

[gtaus]

I am interested in this composite run idea, right now my ladies are on dirt (only a few months old) but I hated all the work and cost of changing out wood chips weekly to keep down the smell. Do you know where I can find more info on it? I have tons of pine trees and never at a loss for pine needles but I doubt that is as good as leaves/grass.

I don't know where you live, but if I kept my chickens on dirt it would turn to mud every time it rained. That's why I converted my entire run into a chicken run composting system. Well, that, and I do a lot of gardening these days, so I wanted more homegrown compost for my raised beds instead of buying it by the bag at the big box stores.

Pine needles would work fine as run litter. I just dumped about 12 large muck buckets full of pine needles that I raked up from underneath my trees. In my case, I also have lots of grass clippings in the summer, and then lots of leaves in the fall. Everything organic around my property gets dumped into the run and the chickens turn it into useable compost. My chicken run never smells.

If your chicken run smells, then that indicates something is out of balance. I suspect that if your chickens are on dirt, all that chicken poo would just sit on of it and smell. Years ago, I was in a similar situation and was never able to seem to get things clean enough and knock down that smell.

The turning point for me was when I learned that chickens do better on deep litter systems. Instead of buying wood chips, putting a layer out in the run, and raking it up every week, I found out that I was much better off just adding additional layers to the wood chips/litter instead of removing it every time. As you build up more depth in your chicken run litter, it does a better and better job of absorbing the chicken poo. The chickens will scratch and peck in the run litter, which works the surface chicken poo down to lower layers of the layer where it turns into compost. My top compost layer is very clean, as a result of all the chicken action. My run smells like a forest floor, especially after a good rain.

The trick, of course, is finding free organic material that you can use in your chicken run. I have access to all the free wood chips I could ever use at our local county landfill. It's just there for the taking. But frankly, I have enough leaves and grass clippings on my property that I don't need to go to the landfill for wood chips.

We all live in different areas, and you just have to find a composting system that can work for you. The deep litter system I use out in the chicken run never needs me to do any work - except when I harvest the finished compost. I harvest some of the run compost usually twice a year. My days of constantly cleaning the chicken run are over. And my chicken run never smells now that I use deep litter.

I know this thread is on using a tarp to cool down the ground temps, but in my case, I don't want a solid tarp over my chicken run because I want the rain to fall on my run litter. It's that rain that speeds up the composting process. That's why I have mentioned that allowing junk trees to grow in my run works better for me. It still provides great shade, but the rain can fall through the trees and soak the chicken run litter underneath.

 

[gtaus]

Here is something my momma typed up for you:

Your momma provided lots of good information. That was a very informative post.

I'll just add a few comments that I think I can answer...

My understanding is that you want about 20-40 parts carbon rich materials to 1 part nitrogen rich materials to encourage good composting.

A good mix improves the composting process. Nitrogen rich materials speed up the composting. However, I never worry about the ratio. The carbon sources, like leaves, don't smell. It's the nitrogen rich material, like fresh grass clipping, that will clump up and rot/smell if you get too much at one time. If you can alternate layers, that works best.

This time of year, I am mowing my lawn almost every day and dumping all the grass clippings in the chicken run. I just dump the bins full of clippings all over the run instead of in one big pile. That way, the chickens will scratch and peck through the smaller grass piles, leveling them out, where they quickly dry out and work into the compost litter better. If you just dump all those grass clippings into one big pile, it may heat up, get all slimly, and smell really bad.

Leaves and wood chips, on the other hand, can be dumped in a huge pile and they will just break down slowly over a long period of time and never smell. I have made piles of leaf mold compost in bins, and it just takes a long time, years, for the stuff to break down on its own.

When you mix the greens and browns, the composting works much better and faster. If you can layer the greens and browns, that works best. However, the chickens are constantly scratching and pecking in the litter, and they do the best job of mixing stuff anyways.

I don’t have any experience with pine needles in composting so hopefully someone else can help you with whether that is a good source of carbon that breaks down well in a chicken composting system.

Pine needles are a great source of carbon for your composting. They will break down faster than wood chips.

The idea isn’t to put a small amount of wood chips down that needs to be replaced. It is to make the wood chips very deep so that the ratios are correct and expect that the chickens will turn the floor compost by scratching and digging.

Exactly, the deeper the better. My chicken run has about 12 inches of compost litter in it at all times. In the fall, with all the leaves, it might fluff up to about 18 inches deep. But the chickens, and nature, will break that stuff down over a few months.

My chicken run compost is full of tasty bugs and juicy worms. My chickens are happy to scratch and peck out in the compost litter all day looking for good things to eat. They must find a lot to eat because my commercial feed consumption is about half in the summer compared to the winter months when the chicken run is covered with snow.

 

[msengelmann]

I like to make "salad ice cubes" with electrolyte water or sometimes I even put a metal bowl with mixed greens in the freezer so my girls can have cold stuff to peck at and eat throughout the day.

 

[Elspeth Dinsmore]

I know this thread is on using a tarp to cool down the ground temps, but in my case, I don't want a solid tarp over my chicken run because I want the rain to fall on my run litter. It's that rain that speeds up the composting process. That's why I have mentioned that allowing junk trees to grow in my run works better for me. It still provides great shade, but the rain can fall through the trees and soak the chicken run litter underneath.

Y'all are welcome to talk about flooring for runs! It still accomplishes the purpose of this thread. Certain floorings are definitely hotter than others. Cooling ground temperature by changing out what lays on the bottom of the run can be super helpful. I really enjoy hearing about what others are using in their runs.

I agree that using a tarp long-term wouldn't be the best idea. I'm super excited about the privacy screen fencing. Hopefully, it will allow water and wind through, but deflect some of the sun's heat. The tarp was just supposed to be a quick thing to use for helping the chickens get through suddenly extreme heat.

 

[Elspeth Dinsmore]

Your momma provided lots of good information. That was a very informative post.

I'll just add a few comments that I think I can answer...

A good mix improves the composting process. Nitrogen rich materials speed up the composting. However, I never worry about the ratio. The carbon sources, like leaves, don't smell. It's the nitrogen rich material, like fresh grass clipping, that will clump up and rot/smell if you get too much at one time. If you can alternate layers, that works best.

This time of year, I am mowing my lawn almost every day and dumping all the grass clippings in the chicken run. I just dump the bins full of clippings all over the run instead of in one big pile. That way, the chickens will scratch and peck through the smaller grass piles, leveling them out, where they quickly dry out and work into the compost litter better. If you just dump all those grass clippings into one big pile, it may heat up, get all slimly, and smell really bad.

Leaves and wood chips, on the other hand, can be dumped in a huge pile and they will just break down slowly over a long period of time and never smell. I have made piles of leaf mold compost in bins, and it just takes a long time, years, for the stuff to break down on its own.

When you mix the greens and browns, the composting works much better and faster. If you can layer the greens and browns, that works best. However, the chickens are constantly scratching and pecking in the litter, and they do the best job of mixing stuff anyways.

Pine needles are a great source of carbon for your composting. They will break down faster than wood chips.

Exactly, the deeper the better. My chicken run has about 12 inches of compost litter in it at all times. In the fall, with all the leaves, it might fluff up to about 18 inches deep. But the chickens, and nature, will break that stuff down over a few months.

My chicken run compost is full of tasty bugs and juicy worms. My chickens are happy to scratch and peck out in the compost litter all day looking for good things to eat. They must find a lot to eat because my commercial feed consumption is about half in the summer compared to the winter months when the chicken run is covered with snow.

This is awesome! Thank you so much for the information! It helps to have some more experienced chicken keepers talking about their composting process.

I was really intrigued about using pine needles! Now I want to go collect some and use it in our run.

That's also fantastic that your hard work made the commercial feed consumption lower. Thanks for all the tips!

Janie and Brie rolling in our compost:

 

[Elspeth Dinsmore]

I like to make "salad ice cubes" with electrolyte water or sometimes I even put a metal bowl with mixed greens in the freezer so my girls can have cold stuff to peck at and eat throughout the day.

That's a nice idea! My sister makes frozen treats for the chickens too:

 

[tlcmurphy]

That's a nice idea! My sister makes frozen treats for the chickens too:
View attachment 3874747

Nice! What do you put in your treats?

Mine love frozen watermelon balls, but I’m not keen on being mauled by chickens, so I tend to yeet it toward them