How to fix dusty coop?

[Justagalwithchicks]

I live in the Midwest and it's cold with a lot of wind. My coop is in my run and wrapped with plastic leaving 6 inches of ventilation on top of each side except the North. I have it so you can raise the plastic on 3 sides except the North also. It's so dusty! The ground is just loose dirt. I've put leaves and some mulch in, but that doesn't work after a couple of days the scratch it right in. Any ideas? Will wetting it down with a sprinkling can help? My husband doesn't want it the ground hard and worries this will do that? Thank you very much for your replies and advice from my girls who keep sneezing from the dust!

 

[AGstudy]

Wetting the soil will keep the dust down, but it will promote problems like parasitic worms and coccidosis.

Dirt floor...will likely always be dusty. However...If your soil is silty or clay it would make more dust. You could dig out the top layer of the soil in your coop and replace it with pure sand (large size soil particles means less are airborne).

You could also make a raised wood floor and put linoleum on it (to use the poop scraping method) that is what I use, but I had parasite problems in the past, so it became a necessity. I wouldn't recommend the pine shavings method. It seems to add alot of dust (at least in my experience.)

 

[SmiYa0126]

Hello! Could you post pictures?

 

[aart]

The ground is just loose dirt. I've put leaves and some mulch in, but that doesn't work after a couple of days the scratch it right in.

Wetting it lightly might be OK.
How deep is the dusty dirt?
Yes, some pics might be helpful.

More mulch, coarse wood chippings.

 

[Justagalwithchicks]

Thank you for your replies! I think I need much more mulch but since it's cold here now it's not readily available. We've had this run n coop for three years but for some reason it seems much worse this year. The chickens love it because it's dust bathing soft dirt. I did raise the South side up today quite a bit and that seems to be helping so it just may be the solution untiI spring .can't post pics at the moment.