What is the best ground to have in your chicken coop?

[lajollachickens]

Dear Chicken Owners

I have finally chose to buy an Eglu Cube for my first flock of four chickens.

I have seen lots of pictures of peoples setups and in most pictures they all have a different ground that they placed it on.
For example i have seen some where there is sand in the run. I have seen some with wood chips.
I even saw one with rocks in the run.

I was wondering which works best?
!!!!!Please Add Picture!!!!!!!!
Please comment what works best for your chickens!

Thanks

 

[bobelot]

I have plastic on the floor but then I put newspaper on top but they totally tore it up and it was really messy !!!! So instead of newspaper I found out dry straw works out really well it absorbs the wet sloopy poops so I would recommend straw
Sorry I don't have a pic right now but I will try to get one

 

[lajollachickens]

Thank you so much!!!!

How often do you switch out the straw and do you have a bucket or a place where the chickens have a dust bath???
When you take out the old straw do you compost it?

Also just wondering what type of coop do you have and what breeds of chickens???

Thank You so much

 

[lilywags]

Ha, by the time I finished building my coop in October I was too worn out to spend more time ruminating about the run floor. All summer the run floor was simply dirt--not much rain in Idaho this summer. I'd read that chickens do a wonderful job beginning the composting process, so when I mowed I spread the fresh cut grass on top of the dirt for the girls to munch and scratch in. Just kept layering it. When leaves began falling I put those in on top and the girls have done a terrific job of breaking them down. I'll keep this up until it seems to need replacing then toss all the "pre-composted" stuff onto my compost pile. So far it's worked like a charm.

 

[lilywags]

Oh, and my hens spend about 2.5 days in their enclosed run while I'm at work. Otherwise, when I'm home I let them run around the yard for recess and P.E. most of the day...on about 4.5 days. They seem happy and between the three of them right now I collect about a dozen eggs a week.

 

[lajollachickens]

Thanks that really helps

What type of coop do you have?(pictures please)if u have?
So is it like a compost pile in the chicken kind runa cause ive heard that works

I was reading this blog about chickens and it was how they had one compost pile in the run for the chicken to compost and then she had another compost outside where she composted all the chicken poop

I think im going to try that

 

[bobelot]

Well for me I change the straw about twice a month or thee if it gets to poopy and when I clean it out I just out it in a big bucket do it al fits thèn my dad brings it to the municipal yard oh and for there dirt bath u could just get a sandbox and fill it with dirt or if u have a unused garden with dirt . The coop is a old playhouse I used to have and it works just fine it's a really good size and it has shutters and a door like a house and I put the nesting boxes in the wall above the ground and I have red Sussex crosses !!
For the food I got a metal tray thing and put it in the wall so the chickens don't step in there food and poop in it and there water was in this water thing that refilled its self I left it outside and just put a bucket over it so the rats don't start drinking out of it

 

[KevinHicks]

I am brand new at this. I just built a 12 x 12 run and a small coop. I think my chickens are about 8 months old and I am eggless. they have been in their new home for about a week now with pine shavings in the breeding boxes which I made inside the coop about 18 inches off of the ground. Do you think that the chickens will EVER find their breeding boxes and lay eggs???

 

[bobelot]

Well my chicken wasn't laying in it nesting boxes so when it was around the time to lay a carried her all the way to her nesting box and plopped her now she layed every day in there but stil poops in it !!!

 

[lilywags]

Well, I simply carry the leaves or grass in and spread it evenly around in the run. At first it's pretty fluffy but within several days the girls have it more compacted. I don't make a pile like a compost heap since I use it as the ground cover in the run. Whenever I feel like it gets too compacted I add fresh stuff on top of what's there. I imagine I'l just know when it's time to clean the whole thing out, and I've got leaf bags of shredded leaves stored for the winter for this purpose. Whatever gets cleaned out of the run will end up in my compost heap.