DevGoddess
In the Brooder
Hey y'all!
A couple of weeks ago we finally moved our two "og" hens to their new coop and run. The coop is a small prefab, and the run is one of those metal ones that you have to assemble; a tarp is covering one section, but we plan on getting another to cover the section their coop is under. Everything has been going great! Except... it has been storming for the last 24 hours or so, and now the run is a boggy mess. I want our girls to be comfortable and healthy (our two new ladies in the old run aren't having any mud problems), but I'm getting confused on what flooring to use.
I've got the TSC Pelletized Bedding available, but I'm also seeing stuff about gravel/river rock, construction sand, mulch, etc.
Our ground isn't clay, just lumpy all over the place where lots of puddles form, and we're in North Carolina near the Jacksonville area.
I know I need to elevate the run floor, but for the life of me I don't know where to start with the flooring material. Everyone seems to either love or hate all of those different options, and I'm just looking for a budget-friendly way to help my girls' QOL. Like, should I put a layer of gravel down for drainage with a layer of sand or the pelletized bedding over it...? I'm not really feeling the use of mulch, seeing as our entire yard is currently covered in it (wooded and haven't cleaned up from fall) and we still have flooding.
Thank y'all in advance!! Everyone has been super helpful, and I've been doing a deep info dive for the past few days, lol.
A couple of weeks ago we finally moved our two "og" hens to their new coop and run. The coop is a small prefab, and the run is one of those metal ones that you have to assemble; a tarp is covering one section, but we plan on getting another to cover the section their coop is under. Everything has been going great! Except... it has been storming for the last 24 hours or so, and now the run is a boggy mess. I want our girls to be comfortable and healthy (our two new ladies in the old run aren't having any mud problems), but I'm getting confused on what flooring to use.
I've got the TSC Pelletized Bedding available, but I'm also seeing stuff about gravel/river rock, construction sand, mulch, etc.
Our ground isn't clay, just lumpy all over the place where lots of puddles form, and we're in North Carolina near the Jacksonville area.
I know I need to elevate the run floor, but for the life of me I don't know where to start with the flooring material. Everyone seems to either love or hate all of those different options, and I'm just looking for a budget-friendly way to help my girls' QOL. Like, should I put a layer of gravel down for drainage with a layer of sand or the pelletized bedding over it...? I'm not really feeling the use of mulch, seeing as our entire yard is currently covered in it (wooded and haven't cleaned up from fall) and we still have flooding.
Thank y'all in advance!! Everyone has been super helpful, and I've been doing a deep info dive for the past few days, lol.