Chickens Love Their Hay
February 4th, 2014 · 5 Comments · Posted in farming
When I built our mobile chicken coop I installed wire mesh as a floor in hopes the droppings would fall through to the ground. They do, sort of. What’s left tends to build up and I’ve been using a stirrup hoe to reach into the coop and scrape the manure off the wire. Except now everything’s frozen and scraping just gets harder and harder. Then it occurred to me: Why not just spread hay over the floor of the coop?
Duh!
The hay not only catches the droppings, but also provides some insulation from bitter cold under the birds’ feet. As needed, I add more hay to create some deep bedding. I figure the hay will be much easier to remove when the time comes. Mixed with the chicken manure, it will make excellent compost to spread on the orchard where the coop is parked.
I’m also using the hay to line the eight nesting boxes built into the sides of the coop. It looks so cozy with all that hay. The chickens huddle inside the coop like a bunch of little astronauts strapped into a space capsule. In the photo, you can see their five-gallon waterer resting on top of a heater that keeps the water flowing even when temperatures fall below zero. When it snows (or rains), I move their feeder into the coop as well.
Get ready, hens. Another big snow storm is schedule to sweep through here tomorrow.
Hi Ed, that looks practical.
BUT be careful as sometimes fungal spores on hay can cause respiratory problems for hens. Read more here: http://poultrykeeper.com/housing-chickens/what-is-the-best-bedding-material-for-chickens-and-ducks
C xx
Thanks for that link, Celia. I wasn’t aware. I’ve turned to hay as a winter solution. Are fungal spores really a problem in freezing temperatures you think?
The problem is if the straw gets damp, I was reminded of this happening to my friend Fiona’s hens http://www.cottagesmallholder.com/chicken-keepers-beware-of-the-horrors-of-wet-hay-watch-out-with-your-chicken-bedding-846/
I know that using your hay seems a good thing to use, but I wouldn’t risk it. Could you use newspaper and wood (pine) shavings? Maybe a local woodyard/carpenters could supply?
C
I’m in between flocks right now, but for years I’ve used wood shavings (and shredded printer paper/memoir drafts) inside my fairly small coop, and lots and lots of straw in their run/under the coop. Montana is dry, so fungal stuff isn’t an issue here, but I’ve never had any issues. And since my compost heaps are in the chicken run, I just muck everything into the compost heap, then add some horse shit as spring approaches to heat the whole thing up. Worked great for me, but I have small flocks, and like I said, no humidity.
Our hens have unlimited access to open pasture every day, Charlotte. Winter is a bit different, since they don’t like snow. Sometimes they won’t leave their little coop. So the hay really is temporary–to catch the poop before it freezes, and to provide some insulation on the wire floor. Otherwise, we don’t worry about bedding at all, except in the nesting boxes. But the hens don’t seem to care much for bedding in the nesting boxes. I’ve tried chopped straw and hay, and in both cases the hens remove the material almost as fast as I put it in there. Why, I have no clue.