What makes a chicken coop easy to live with?

[sallyj]

At the moment I have the cube and run on grass but also with a mesh flooring. The grass seems to be surviving under the mesh floor but is is obviously difficult to keep clean so I am thinking of changing to putting down wood chippings on the floor of the run instead. There is no roof to the run apart from the Omlet rain cover so the flooring will get wet in heavy rain and also it rains horizontally where I live Is it OK to put the layer of wood chippings straight onto grass? Will it smell? Advice please

[Falkor]

I would remove the mesh, let the girls eat most of the grass and then put the chippings down.

 

But providing the grass is fairly short I don`t see why you couldn`t put the chippings striaght down.

[sallyj]

Thanks for that. I'll give it a try. How often will I have to change the wood chippings. I have 4 hens.

[Falkor]

If the run is covered then they will last an age with the occasional rake over.

 

The cube run can be covered with a clear tarp, shower curtain or corrugated sheets from B&Q secured with bungies.

 

I have an eglu run with convertor covered with corrugated sheeting and have had the same wood chips in there for almost three months. They get raked over on Sunday and i sprinke a bit of Stalosan about. I also remove any noticable poos

 

I am planning on changing them completely before winter but am not sure that they will need it.

 

I know that Redwing tops her WIR wood chippings up with Bedmax occasionally.