Deep bedding for a chicken coop makes chicken chores easy and enjoyable. This method controls temperature, maintenance, and smell.
Coop floor
This is the most operant part of a successful deep bedding system for your chicken coop. You will want a natural dirt floor so that as time goes by and your materials start to decompose, your floor does not rot. Chickens are natural decomposers, so they will do a lot of work in helping this evenly decompose, including the heavier manure areas under the roosts. In the deep bedding system, you should have about 5 square feet per chicken, give or take. In about 1 year, your bedding may decrease to about half the amount as you started with.
Bedding material
Our favorite material is always wood shavings. They are inexpensive, safe for chickens, and great at decomposing naturally and efficiently. We spend about $80 to replenish them in our 100 square foot coop per year.
Coop door
We use weather outdoor panel siding, framed with outdoor framing wood for this. A door is nice so that you can open it for fresh air and circulation. A door makes getting in and out easy as you will need to add wood shavings at least 1 times per year.
Nesting boxes
Anything will do, but it’s sure nice to have the nesting boxes easily accessible from the outside of the coop for easy gathering of the eggs each day. We cut a whole on the coop wall, framed the outer side with weatherproof framing and build a frame around 4 legs that went to the ground. Then we covered the outside with outdoor panel siding and used the extra panel material for some box separator inserts.
Windows
For windows, you want to choose an area on at least 2 opposing sides of the coop as high as possible. This allows for good air flow and heat to escape on those hot summer days. Measure the size of the windows, trace, and (we cut about 20’ X 10’) use a jigsaw to cut it out. Cut some 1/4” inch harwire a few inches larger m on every side of the hole you cut. Then attach the harwire to the inside of the coops hole with a staple gun. You may want to keep the wood cutouts to use as window sliders for cold months. Here in VA, our chickens are fine all winter with windows open, especially since the holes are not large, and the deep bedding regulates temperature for heat and cold. Another amazing benefit of the deep bedding system!
Materials used
Make sure you use solid thick wood that is rated for outdoor use. We were lucky enough to get all the wood for this project by upcycling a family member’s old deck boards. My husband built a simple frame to support the walls, and the roof was made from some sheets of roofing metal from Lowes. All we had to buy were the 4 framing posts, cement for the posts, roofing sheets, outdoor panel siding and hardware for the door and nesting boxes.
I hope this information helps you make your chicken coop as enjoyable and functional as possible.