Dust Bath Box in my run - w/ pics!

[6of6chicks]

Wanted to share because my girls are really digging their new dust bath box:





When I built my coop & run I accidently made a huge headache for myself. Their coop sits on concrete, and I elevated it about 2 feet to keep rats out and so that I wouldn't have to stoop over to get in there and clean. I enclosed the area under the coop and made it part of the run, but I didn't realize how much poop would accumulate under there! This is what it looked like before:



It took ONE time of having to crawl under there to scrub poop before I realized I HAD to find a better way! So I built a box on one side and filled it with a mix of peat moss & dirt. They LOVE perching on the edges and rolling around in there. I had a bag of sand on hand, so I threw it on the other side as a *temporary* fix. Well, turns out they like playing on that side too. The dirt area of the run now has a thick layer of dried grass in it, so I decided to keep the sand in that one spot. It's much easier to rake poo off sand than to scrub it off concrete!

So now they have three textures to play with in there: dirt, sand, and dried grass ("homemade straw"):



Happy chickens and a happy chicken mommy (NO more scrubbing!

)

 

[RonP]

Let us know how everything works out long term.

Looks great!

 

[MamaChicken4]

I really like the way you did the dust box. I was going to use a kiddy pool in my run but now I've decided to frame one in with boards. Nice work. Your coop looks great.

 

[6of6chicks]

I really like the way you did the dust box. I was going to use a kiddy pool in my run but now I've decided to frame one in with boards. Nice work. Your coop looks great.

Thanks! They like it and I love not having to crawl under there and clean, lol! I finally snapped a shot of them rolling around in there:

 

[JanetS]

I see.....Happy Chickens! Great job. I like how open and airy your coop is. Do you have any pictures of the inside?

 

[MamaChicken4]

Thanks! They like it and I love not having to crawl under there and clean, lol! I finally snapped a shot of them rolling around in there:

Ah so cute! Mine will love this.

 

[Hershy]

Great solution!!

 

[6of6chicks]

I see.....Happy Chickens! Great job. I like how open and airy your coop is. Do you have any pictures of the inside?

Thanks! It's so hot where I live so I had to have as much ventilation as possible and still keep out raccoons.



The top bar is 3 ft. high, and they all roost up there. So far they are using the ladder system to get down, but if they start jumping I may have to lower the top perch when they get older (and heavier) to help prevent bumblefoot. That's a big reason why I like pine shavings - nice soft landings.

It's all painted with several coats of high-gloss paint, so it's easy to clean. Even with all the humidity it stays bone dry in there and I have zero smell or fly problems. That screen on the left is another window, so I can have ventilation on all four sides to get good cross breezes.

I used to have a round feeder in the coop, but it wasted too much food. I'm working on building a pvc pipe feeder to put in there instead. I know people say no food & water in the coop, but I like hitting the snooze button on the weekends. They're WAY less anxious when they have access to food & water while they mull around waiting for me to get my butt out there and open up the run, lol!