Run requirements????

[Anonymous]

Hi, we are going to get our chickens soon. We have a nice coop and have constructed a large run. However we are unsure about what type of ground we need to have in the run. The site is an old flower bed so is mainly soil, there are a couple of small tree's. Do we need to have a grassy area? The girls will be out of the run when we are at home so will have free reign of the garden which has grass and all the usual stuff. Just want the birds to have the right comfort. Can anyone advise????

 

[Tim]

Hi Stu,

Firstly, welcome to the forum!

There are quite a few different floor coverings that people use. Grass will usually turn to mud in a short while unless your chickens are in a large area so some of the most popular coverings are bark chippings, gravel and even rubber chippings.

I use 20mm gravel in one of my runs although the rest of the runs are in a field so the chooks get rotated and the grass gets a chance to recover. Whatever you use will need cleaning / changing or topping up from time to time. With bark chippings you will probably need to change them every year to keep them clean. Worms can become a problem when chickens are on the same ground for a while so it's a good idea to replace them periodically.

Something else you could do is move your chickens between runs so the ground gets a chance to recover and gets a chance to break the parasite cycle. This is only viable if you have lots of space though.

I always suggest people give their chickens as much free range as possible - if you can, let them out to forage from time to time, it will keep them fitter and healthier and you will have some very happy chickens

Good luck and welcome to the world of chickens!

 

[snifter]

Tim gave good advice

I personally like mine to be on grass as much as possible as I feel mean seeing them on chippings or stone all the time. They are used to grass and free ranging so I encourage that as much as I can. However in our new house we don't have that big a garden anymore but will be laying some turf down specially for them at the top of the garden and their run will go all the way across from side to side and be about 3-4 metres long. So a fair space. However I shall also let the free range round the rest of the garden as often as possible except in late spring and summer as our son will want to be outside playing a lot then and I don't want the chicken poo being an issue.

But my few chooks are going to have what I consider a very large run area with ground I can rest daily by letting them free range. And will only be on it constantly for a few months in summer.

If you don't put grass or chippings or something down, soil will get very muddy. And depending on the breeds you get this won't be good for them. Feathered leg breeds won't like it at all and it will cause problems on their leg feathering.

I'd always try to have some grass somewhere but as Tim said, free ranging is the best thing if you are able and around to keep an eye. At least for an hour or two a day.

 

[Anonymous]

Many thanks for the replies and apologies for my late response, internet problems.
Happy to say we now have 2 verwicks (i thinks thats how you spell it) and 1 wellsummer. Great birds and are very happy scratting around the garden all day, decided it was a shame to keep them in the run even though it is plenty big enough. great fun. thanks

 

[snifter]

Sounds good stu

Do you mean Vorwerks? Stunning breed if so.

Apparently the cock birds can be very aggresive. I know a breeder of them and she has to keep her pen of Vorwerks well away from all her other pens (as in the other end of the field) as the cock bird has gotten out and killed some of her other breeding cock birds in other pens when closer together