Coops in wet, temperate climates? Bedding?

[aMotherDucker]

Check out the threads on using dried leaves. You can also add pine straw, and grass, and yard clippings. Today is my “massive coop cleaning day” I was laying in bed last night thinking about it, and thought.....what about all of these dang leaves, and pine straw I have to rake? Would it work? And sure enough, I knew I could find some info here. I LOVE BYC! You use the deep litter method. Turning and adding more as needed. Rake it out once a year, and start over. Its free, it’s natural, it’s warm, and you end up with gorgeous mulch. Duhhhh! Why didn’t I think of this sooner?!?! LOL. I’m going to pack it full after a good cleaning.

 

[BReeder!]

Check out the threads on using dried leaves. You can also add pine straw, and grass, and yard clippings. Today is my “massive coop cleaning day” I was laying in bed last night thinking about it, and thought.....what about all of these dang leaves, and pine straw I have to rake? Would it work? And sure enough, I knew I could find some info here. I LOVE BYC! You use the deep litter method. Turning and adding more as needed. Rake it out once a year, and start over. Its free, it’s natural, it’s warm, and you end up with gorgeous mulch. Duhhhh! Why didn’t I think of this sooner?!?! LOL. I’m going to pack it full after a good cleaning.

I second using what you have to rake! I piled, I mean PILED!, leaves in our run. There was nearly 2 feet of leaves in the run when I was done. I put about 6 inches worth in the coop too. Leaves are mostly air when piled up. The run broke down within just a few days to only 6 inches - less in areas where my hens have scratched down to the dirt . I have added grass clippings as well as weeds/stems/etc from the garden to the run too. A scoop of scratch thrown out once a day encourages the hens to turn everything in the run. I only have 7 hens and they made quick work of turning and breaking down the leaves, grass, sticks, etc in the run in just a week or two - my run is U shaped with the coop sitting at one end and is 30ft across and 13ft on the sides and 5ft wide all throughout. It's 230 square feet for 7 hens, and they are like a demolition crew when it comes to breaking down yard waste!
The result is a cushion of bio matter that my girls get to romp around on until spring when I decide to fork most of it into the garden beds.

 

[MissChick@dee]

Check out the threads on using dried leaves. You can also add pine straw, and grass, and yard clippings. Today is my “massive coop cleaning day” I was laying in bed last night thinking about it, and thought.....what about all of these dang leaves, and pine straw I have to rake? Would it work? And sure enough, I knew I could find some info here. I LOVE BYC! You use the deep litter method. Turning and adding more as needed. Rake it out once a year, and start over. Its free, it’s natural, it’s warm, and you end up with gorgeous mulch. Duhhhh! Why didn’t I think of this sooner?!?! LOL. I’m going to pack it full after a good cleaning.

It’s a wonderful thing. Right?

 

[NewBoots]

This is a wondrous thread. A year out from having our own coop and flock close to the Oregon coast so rain could be an issue for us as well so I am soaking up these suggestions. There will be forest nearby, does anyone have thoughts about using dry(ish) forest litter?

 

[feathermaid]

Using absorbent bedding is great, but in an outdoor exposed environment it's just going to get soggy and bogged down. Like others have said, chunky material like wood chips will let the water drain through and they hold up well. But even so, the real key is to be able to keep that surface material separated from the wet ground below... and if you've ever seen chickens be chickens, you know they scratch the bedding down to the dirt looking for bugs.... which can mix everything together and create a still bigger muddy mess when rain comes along.

I think I have a pretty good system for keeping the mud at bay. We get a lot of rain here in Oregon! My coop has 2 small covered attached runs which open up to a larger exposed run area (it's actually the narrow fenced side yard of my house). It's been muddy there in the past, and in searching for a solution I "borrowed" this mud management idea from Newland Poultry in the UK.

What makes this system work so well is that the ground (mud) and the surface material (wood chips) are kept separate by a sturdy barrier. I first cleared the area, laid PVC poultry netting and attached it to the ground using garden pins, then put my wood chips on top. The chips never get mixed with the muddy ground below! It's amazing! My chickens still enjoy scratching and finding bugs and the PVC material is easy on their feet and drains well.

These pictures were taken before I built my new coop in this area.

When we were having a large tree on our property cut down last year, I had the tree-cutter guys leave me all the contents from the wood chipper. It's all spread very thick and I do rake them occasionally to level the potholes. My girls seem happy and healthy and not muddy at all!


Chickens are very susceptible to mud-born pathogens and a wet environment is a breeding ground for coccidiosis. I can't do anything about the rain and I can't dry out the wood chips, but at least there's no mud. I've added some logs and perches at different heights throughout this little yard to offer escape from the wet ground because they just don't seem to want to stay under cover where it's dry, unless it's pouring down rain.

I use regular pine shavings in the covered run areas and sand underneath the coop. But I have to say that those covered areas probably wouldn't stay dry if I didn't have a gutter for my roof to redirect the rain runoff somewhere else.

 

[feathermaid]

There will be forest nearby, does anyone have thoughts about using dry(ish) forest litter?

I think that would be similar to using "deep litter" and would be perfect in a somewhat controlled environment like inside a coop or barn, maybe a covered run. Likewise, the forest floor is protected by the overhead forest canopy, which allows the ground material to become a constantly evolving ecosystem that deep litter is modeled after.

I'm not sure if I would use it in a chicken area that will receive lots of direct rain though. Too much moisture or water could be detrimental to the system and cause it to get sticky and smelly. Deep litter should be mostly dry and crumbly to touch with very little odor. But I imagine if you piled it deep enough, and kept piling more on all through the winter it could at least keep bare dirt (mud) from being exposed. That stuff has a tendency to sink down and disappear in muddy areas. Curious if anyone else has actually tried it through a full rainy winter and what the results were.

I prefer wood chips *outside, and pine shavings *inside, but that's just me. I may change my mind later.

*edited to clarify

 

[BReeder!]

This is a wondrous thread. A year out from having our own coop and flock close to the Oregon coast so rain could be an issue for us as well so I am soaking up these suggestions. There will be forest nearby, does anyone have thoughts about using dry(ish) forest litter?

The only concern I have with first litter is that it may contain parasite like ticks and mites. I have less problems in my suburban yard with parasites than you will face with a forest in your backyard. However, a hot compost heap will be lived by your hens and should kill off parasites once it gets heated. Just turn it and add more litter once a week or so. You could a li so use DE or wood ash mixed into the litter before you apply it as bedding.

 

[NewBoots]

Using absorbent bedding is great, but in an outdoor exposed environment it's just going to get soggy and bogged down. Like others have said, chunky material like wood chips will let the water drain through and they hold up well. But even so, the real key is to be able to keep that surface material separated from the wet ground below... and if you've ever seen chickens be chickens, you know they scratch the bedding down to the dirt looking for bugs.... which can mix everything together and create a still bigger muddy mess when rain comes along.

I think I have a pretty good system for keeping the mud at bay. We get a lot of rain here in Oregon! My coop has 2 small covered attached runs which open up to a larger exposed run area (it's actually the narrow fenced side yard of my house). It's been muddy there in the past, and in searching for a solution I "borrowed" this mud management idea from Newland Poultry in the UK.

What makes this system work so well is that the ground (mud) and the surface material (wood chips) are kept separate by a sturdy barrier. I first cleared the area, laid PVC poultry netting and attached it to the ground using garden pins, then put my wood chips on top. The chips never get mixed with the muddy ground below! It's amazing! My chickens still enjoy scratching and finding bugs and the PVC material is easy on their feet and drains well.
View attachment 1608826
View attachment 1608827
These pictures were taken before I built my new coop in this area.

When we were having a large tree on our property cut down last year, I had the tree-cutter guys leave me all the contents from the wood chipper. It's all spread very thick and I do rake them occasionally to level the potholes. My girls seem happy and healthy and not muddy at all!
View attachment 1608829 View attachment 1608830 View attachment 1608828

Chickens are very susceptible to mud-born pathogens and a wet environment is a breeding ground for coccidiosis. I can't do anything about the rain and I can't dry out the wood chips, but at least there's no mud. I've added some logs and perches at different heights throughout this little yard to offer escape from the wet ground because they just don't seem to want to stay under cover where it's dry, unless it's pouring down rain.

I use regular pine shavings in the covered run areas and sand underneath the coop. But I have to say that those covered areas probably wouldn't stay dry if I didn't have a gutter for my roof to redirect the rain runoff somewhere else.

This sounds like a great idea, and you've put a lot of thought into it. Do you think there'll still be a good deal of tasty worms and bugs? Safety is higher priority so I'd trade bugs for health of course.

 

[feathermaid]

Yes, parasites are a concern from wild litter! Maybe that's why I prefer the shavings or chips.

This sounds like a great idea, and you've put a lot of thought into it. Do you think there'll still be a good deal of tasty worms and bugs? Safety is higher priority so I'd trade bugs for health of course.

True deep litter will, over time, bring in beneficial microbes and other bugs and yummies. That's why, once that little ecosystem get started and it comes time to change out the litter, you always leave a little of the original litter behind... to jump start the next batch.

As far as an outside run, since the wood chips are larger, they take a lot longer to break down and stay cleaner overall -especially when the rain washes away all the poo. My chickens are still able to find goodies, even with the netting-barrier in place, but probably not quite as much as bare ground. Or maybe they do! At least in summer, the ground stays cool and moist under the deep chips until the chickens scratch it away, revealing some prizes. Bare dirt would just be dry and dusty.

To help facilitate the bug-finding, I slightly spread away some chips and set out some logs or stepping stones there. Every week or so you just move those logs and there will have been a lot of worms or beetles or larva that collected there. It's a feeding frenzy for the chickens!

 

[NewBoots]

That sounds great. SO and I plan to have stones and wood (drift wood and tree trimming leftovers) in the yard to give the hens their own scavenger hunting.