What do you use?

[lynda66]

shavings in the house straw in the nest boxes ... and they have a shelf under their perch, (tried newspaper but it kept splatting up the wall) so very little poop in the house. and the run has a mesh floor covered with soil, so they just dig in that.

[Flummery]

Got easibed for nestbox & hen house floor but hubb thinks it composts slowly - what do others think?

I've only had my Little Ladies for 6 weeks so I couldn't really say. I do know that it absorbs the moisture when they do a humungous poo so I'm making sure I water the compost bins well. Seems to be helping.

[hmk]

Straw/and or newspaper in the houses. Despite having 2 they would rather squish into 1 Or at least, 11 in 1 and 2 (not always the same 2) in the other. Consequently, some sleep on the floor....

Straw in the nest boxes, but like someone elses, they often scrape it all out to lay on the wood.

The run is on earth, with a few paving slabs on bits where it can get v muddy, like the gateway. I do give them a bale of straw, or chunks of one, to play with, especially in the winter when they freerange less, which they spread over the run for me

They have 2 tyres with sand/woodash in as a dustbath.

[Glutton4...]

I use shavings (very thickly, to avoid egg damage) in the next-box, and more thinly on the floor. Under their perches the shavings are spread even more thinly, as the floor is gloss painted, making it much easier to clean. I muck it all out weekly and add it to my compost bin.

Following Hayley's advice I tried newspaper at the bottom, but my 'Laydees' just shredded it up and made a disaster area! If I was starting from scratch again, I'd gloss paint the WHOLE interior! How they can spray sh*t up the walls like that is beyond me!

[jayjay giant]

House and run flooring

Hi there,
I cover the floor of the house and nest boxes with dust extracted wood shavings. They cost about £9 a bale. Also in the nest boxes on top of the wood shavings i fill it up to almost the roof with straw. About £3.50 a bale. The girls make beautifull round nests out of this straw, and the wood shavings underneath keep out the drafts an also absorb any mishaps while laying.
My run is 24ft x 14ft and uncovered. I deep litter the run with straw. Its about 6 inches and keeps the birds wonderfully clean, healthy and virtually smell free. I top the run up with a bale of straw about every 3 weeks.
I clean the house out twice a week. The clean straw and shavings from the nest boxes are emptied into the run and all the messy shavings from the house are put into black rubble sacks and rotted down. Once a month the house is deep cleaned and scrubbed with ***** fluid and warm water.
The entire run is emptied in october and the birds are run on the other half of the garden for winter while the rest is re seeded.
At the end of march everything changes back to the original position and the whole process starts over again. I do not empty anything out of the run apart from twice a year when it is moved. With it being such deep litter the birds turn it all over every day and it remains sweet smelling and disease free.

With regards to other sundries, you will need plenty of poultry grit, apple cider vinegar, garlic cloves and flubenvent ( administered for a week every 6 months ).
You will find out lots of things as you go. One thing to remember though is be very sparing with the corn. I really doesn't do them any favours no matter how excited they get when you walk up with a handfull.
Hope that helps and i hope you enjoy your exciting first few weeks.
Regards
Jay

[the4ladies]

When you say you gloss painted the inside of the coop's - is this just any old gloss paint you had lying around?

[MaureenHall]

That's what I'm doing, though I didn't have any "lying around". I've used cheapo B&Q white on all the walls and I'll be doing the floor and the insides of the nest boxes black (to keep them dark and so it doesn't show the stains!). And I got an almost full bucket of fence paint from Freecycle so I can paint the outside too, make it all "new" for the new ladies (when they arrive!)