What is the current base of your run (dirt, gravel, concrete)? I personally don't like pine shavings anywhere it will get very wet (such as on a dirt floor) because it turns to a yucky muck that is difficult to clean out. For a dirt floor I recommend wood chips that don't disintegrate as quickly, like hardwood chips or playground pine chips.
Agree. Wood chips are needed for texture and aeration, then if you like you can add on pine shavings, hardwood mulch, pine straw (dead pine needles), dead leaves, etc. But you need the oomph of wood chips to keep everything from packing down.
Does your coop have a floor (concrete, wood, vinyl, etc.)? Or does it sit on a dirt base?
Oddly, they don’t need warmth that much. They wear down bodysuits, after all. Deep litter is more a means of dealing with the chicken poop
, setting up an environment where the will rot down to help create healthy, fertile (very fertile!
) soil.
As I said, my run is dirt. I don't add anything to that, it's outside. In my coop, I use pine shavings and the deep bedding method. The coop has a floor made from PVC board
I see that in my other post, I did say deep litter and I meant deep bedding. That's my mistake
Believe me, we are all in endless confusion on this one!
