Sand for runs

If it's hard wood chip you could wash it and it shouldn't go mouldy. That's the difference between hardwood chip and softwood and why it is recommended for poultry, because it doesn't grow mould. I don't have the time to do this, otherwise that would be a good way of making the wood chip last longer. I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to relax with the risk of wire in the rubber chippings. Just one piece of wire in a foot would be horrendous! Not to mention having it go through the bottom of my wellies. Even 1% is too high a risk for me. I think I'm just going to have to stick with the hardwood chips for now. Perhaps I did make the right choice after all - at least from the products that are currently available.
 
i called those people about the rubber chippings and its £6.90 per bag but £35 deleivery so for me to get 10 bags for now would be £100 almost , they are not that far from me really but to pick them up would cost me £20 offered to a friend to go in his van if he had the time so i might as well get them deleivered once i make up my mind once and for all . but one thing that does bother me is puddles collecting under the membrane do i need to worry about them or not as my run area isnt level so the puddles do build up in some areas and i have noticed that the area in the big girls run that has membrane down with wood chips on top seems to be very sqaushy to walk on if that makes sense and the wood chips seem very very wet and heavy .
 
Can you reshape the underlying run Karminski, so it's like a crown bowling green with the centre a few inches above the sides? Or is that a really huge job?
 
i have already thought about trying it and it would be easier with a small mantis machine to help loosen the soil but my girls would no doubt die of shock with the noise even though they were ok with the tree surgeons doing the tree with the chainsaw , i can do it by hand and shovel soil downwards but it might take me a while so the whole run goes at an angle from the rear of the run to the front umm and its picking the right time as well when the soil isnt to heavy or to dry to even get a shovel into it .
 
karminski said:
but one thing that does bother me is puddles collecting under the membrane do i need to worry about them or not as my run area isnt level so the puddles do build up in some areas and i have noticed that the area in the big girls run that has membrane down with wood chips on top seems to be very sqaushy to walk on if that makes sense and the wood chips seem very very wet and heavy .
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Obviously it would be a good idea to try to level the surface of the run as far as possible, because otherwise, whatever you put down, puddles will gather in the hollows under the membrane if the ground drainage is poor. However, rubber chippings cannot absorb any water, being solid rubber, so they never get soggy or mouldy in themselves. I find that, on a 4-inch layer of them over a membrane, my hens walk around on top of the chippings and don't get soggy or muddy feet even on rainy days because their feet are supported above the membrane on the chippings, with air between the chips. However my run is well drained as our garden is at the top of a hill on a chalk subsoil. i think rubber chips would probably be very helpful if the drainage wasn't good, but only sorting out the drainage could make a permanent or complete solution to the puddle problem. If the water level came right up above the membrane the rubber chips would get covered by it, just like any other sort of flooring would, eg woodchip. The difference would be that they wouldn't deteriorate in the water and would drain faster with no damage, mould or sogginess once the water level went down again.
 
thanks guys ,will look at starting to level of the run this weekend and then hopfully get some rubber chips in feb .
 
If you go for rubber clippings you do need to recognise that they need more day-to-day maintenance than eg woodchip. If you didn't poo pick very regularly and keep them clean as you went along, the poo would get trodden in to them and would eventually make a nasty mess just as it would in woodchip. On a well- drained site like mine it's possible to hose them down and most of it will dissolve and pass through the membrane (though I think woven membrane with its more open texture is possibly better than the none woven kind. ) However if drainage isn't good you won't want to add to the problems by doing a lot of hosing as well. I poo pick every day, using one bucket for intact poos not trodden in to the chippings and another for dirty chippings + poos stuck to them. These go into a bucket half-full of water to soak and every few days I hose them through, using a large metal garden sieve to hold and drain them. The dirty water goes on the garden and the clean chips back in the run. It doesn't take long, not the most pleasant of tasks but at least you never have to dig out and dispose of a load of messy woodchip. After replacing the clean chips I water the run once a week with a canful of Poultry Shield and sometimes in dry periods I hose it as well. I wouldn't want to do this if I had a large run with lots of chickens pooing in it (mine is 12sq. Metres with 4 birds) but it does completely solve the problem of mud coming up from below and getting mixed in. At least you only have the poo to deal with and if this is done daily the run never smells and is always clean and pleasant. After all they poo the same amount whatever you put down, it's just a matter of how and when you prefer to deal with it. I am not worried at all about metal in the chippings, you just have to be sure you've got good quality ones not made of the wrong kind of tyres to start with. Given this, at least they will never cause foot injuries from thorns etc, as can happen with some kinds of woodchip.
As you have them for good once they've arrived, I wanted to make sure you knew what maintenance is needed to keep them in good condition. They're not for everyone, I recognise, but they suit me and two years on I'm very glad I got them (and so are my girls!)


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i poo pick every afternoon normally about 30 mins before the girls go to bed and i pick up 99% of all poos as i like the run to be as clean as poss for the morning and seeing that i let my girls out in the dark its so much easier doing everything in the afternoon .am of to go get some more membrane tomorrow and although theres some very good deals on ebay at the mo i am going to try my luck at a local garden centre i get on very well with the boss :lol: :lol: and see if i can get a load cheaper :-)05 and i think what i may very well end up doing is covering the largest part of my run with membrane and then playground woodbark this area as its the most levelist and the unlevel area which i would say is only 2m by maybe 3 or 4 leave that bare soil it never gets bogged there as the ground goes into a kinda of mound surrounding the tree .it is differcult to try and work out what to do for the best :? the playground bark is only about £7 a 120lt bag so i may only out one down at a time and just replace every 2 months then that way the ground should still get plenty of air to it where as if i done about 3-4 inches of chips it would not dry as quick under the membrane hehehe if that makes sense .
 
well i am halfway there :D got more membrane today 20m by 1m for a tenner and i have now completed the bantams side of the run so they will never get muddy feet ever again and the quantine section is done .

half of the main secton for the big girls is done but i run out of membrane tell next week i have held it down with slabs so many feet apart as i forgot to get some of those ground pegs but while i have lots of slabs its easier to use them and i decided on wood chip which i can just grab a bag from anywhere as and when i need it , i havent done them deep at all as i want to be able to take out and replace at least every 2 months so a thin layer will suit me compared to a deep litter and as for leveling the run thats simple we got given lots and lots of top soil and although most of it went into the raised beds we have at least 15 bags of it on the patio and it needs a home so i am going to use that to level the front of and then membrane on top :D :D
 
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