My girls have a lovely run with lots of grass. Obviously the grass is going to be trashed very quickly. Should I put anything else on the ground i.e. wood shavings, straw, sand etc? or do I just leave it as trashed grass? They have straw in their nesting boxes and shavings on the floor of the coop, but I'm just not sure about outside in the run.
Flooring for the run
- Thread starter Anni D
- Start date
rick
Active member
I’ve never had any grass to put a run on so I’m just talking from general principles here. You cant really put down shavings or anything else without a cover as it will just get wet and as much of a mess as a patch of bare soil. Shavings also blow around all over the place unless you have them contained by boarding at the sides. The best thing to do, i think and if its possible, is to move the run onto a new patch of grass when the current one gets a bit worn out but still able to recover. Mow and rake up the new patch first so there’s no long grass there as long grass is infamous for causing impacted crops. It wont grow long once the hens are on it! If you cant move the run then you need something to go on the ground that you can replace periodically and extend its life by poo picking (its a fact of life for most chicken keepers other than free range over a wide area and easy enough once you get into the habit!) I used bark chip for a while when I had an open section of run which has the benefit of not blowing about in the wind or being kicked through the run sides. The downside of bark chip is you cant really poo pick on it - it has to be seen as expendable although it can be washed through by rain or a hose a few times as long as the soil is reasonably free draining. In the covered areas wood shavings are OK (must be dust free) although Aubiouse (horse bedding made from chopped up hemp stalks and available in 20kg bails from Omlet if you cant find an equestrian supply) is excellent stuff (I’m a total convert after finding out about it on here!)
Straw is not ideal. It can easily go mouldy when wet and cause respiratory problems although I used it for in the nesting box where it stayed dry. Above anything avoid anything dusty or conditions prone to fungal growth (that includes overspill of food) - chickens are particularly susceptible to respiratory problems as they have air sacks throughout their bodies and so infection can led to all kinds of serious, complex problems that would probably stop at a sniffle or a sneeze in a mammal. Good ventilation is a must - there shouldn’t be any condensation in the roost, for example.
I’m making it sound difficult, it really isn’t but you just need to keep an eye on these things to a reasonable degree!
Oh and bark chip is good stuff when it has to be open to the elements but if you buy it in a plastic wrapper (probably been in there for several months) then air it out somewhere else for a week or two. One bale I bought from Homebase was very damp and dubious!
Straw is not ideal. It can easily go mouldy when wet and cause respiratory problems although I used it for in the nesting box where it stayed dry. Above anything avoid anything dusty or conditions prone to fungal growth (that includes overspill of food) - chickens are particularly susceptible to respiratory problems as they have air sacks throughout their bodies and so infection can led to all kinds of serious, complex problems that would probably stop at a sniffle or a sneeze in a mammal. Good ventilation is a must - there shouldn’t be any condensation in the roost, for example.
I’m making it sound difficult, it really isn’t but you just need to keep an eye on these things to a reasonable degree!
Oh and bark chip is good stuff when it has to be open to the elements but if you buy it in a plastic wrapper (probably been in there for several months) then air it out somewhere else for a week or two. One bale I bought from Homebase was very damp and dubious!
