Chicken run floor material

[Danedad]

Getting chickens for the first time.Making my first coop and run. Curious about best material for chicken run. I live in Pacific Northwest, plenty of rain in the winter. My run will be on grass in the back yard. Should I put sand or pine shavings directly on the grass? Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you!

 

[CaliforniaMountainChicks]

I prefer the deep litter method in chicken runs. That’s where you put plenty of organic material like straw, dried leaves, pine shavings, wood chips, etc. The bonus is that you get really nice compost for the garden and you don’t have to clean it out. All you do is add more browns to the run floor. The chickens really like it because it mimics a forest floor and they enjoy the bugs that hide in it. My run has absolutely no smell when it’s wet and the poop disappears within a day in the litter.

 

[My Three Chicks]

Once they finish off the grass put down wood chips. I’m in PNW too and it works great! I’d also suggest a good overhang (12”) on the roof so the rain/snow doesn’t come in the sides.

 

[NatJ]

My run will be on grass in the back yard. Should I put sand or pine shavings directly on the grass?

Let the chickens have fun eating & scratching the grass. After they kill it, put wood chips on the ground in the run. Exception, if the run gets all soggy & muddy before the grass is gone, put wood chips on top of the grass.

By "wood chips," I mean the kind that are produced when companies cut brush & chip it up, or sold for mulch. They are bigger and much thicker than the pine shavings that are sold for chicken bedding. The bigger size pieces work much better in chicken runs.

You can also add dry leaves in the fall, and various other things that might otherwise go in a compost pile at any season. But having plenty of wood chips in the mix can really help with keeping mud and smells under control.

 

[Danedad]

Thank you all for the advice. Definitely not doing sand. Going with the wood chips after grass is gone

 

[ChickinProblems]

I am also in pacific nw. I like using shavings , leaves, left over straw/hay. I throw treats of sunflower seeds in it so they have to dig around and keeps them busy.

 

[Tonyroo]

You just need pine flakes in there coop only. Having grass in the run is a bonus for the chickens. They can eat it and tear it up.

You can build a semi open air coop since your winters are just rain. Have your roof over hang 12 or more inch out. To keep the coop dry.

 

[gtaus]

Thank you all for the advice. Definitely not doing sand. Going with the wood chips after grass is gone

After the chickens rip up all the grass, and you put down wood chips, you should be set.

If you are into gardening, then I suggest continuing to add as much organic material to the chicken run and turning it into a chicken run composting system. I bag all my grass clippings and toss them into the run. The chickens love to eat some fresh greens, and the rest gets composted along with the wood chips, leaves, etc... All my yard leaves get composted in the chicken run. Nothing leaves my property.

I use paper shreds as deep bedding in the chicken run, and the paper shreds compost down in less than 3 months out in the chicken run. Almost any organic coop bedding could be used to make compost.

The chickens love to scratch and peck in my chicken run compost because it is full of bugs and worms. They could not be happier. In return, they continually mix the chicken run compost and help it break down even faster.

I tell people I have composting chickens and gets eggs as a bonus. In fact, I "save" more money on the compost from the chicken run than we get from selling eggs. In the past, I used to buy big store compost at about $6.00 per bag. Now I harvest the equivalent of hundreds of dollars of compost every year from my chicken run that I use in my gardens to grow people food. It's a pretty good system.

A good chicken run setup should not smell. If you put down a good layer of wood chips or go all out and make a chicken run composting system with grass clipping, leaves, etc..., the run should smell like a forest floor.

 

[gtaus]

Can you tell me how you got started on this type of run bedding? My run is half sand (covered side) and pine pellets (uncovered side) which just turn to hard dirt/mud and need to be raked regularly. I love the idea behind the composting run, but am having trouble picturing how the conversion would go- will the system still work if I just start putting grass clippings in during the spring? I was also curious if it retains a lot of water. My run is half roofed and half open to the elements.

First of all, my run is completely uncovered (it has bird netting for protection, but no roof). If you want to make compost, you need to have the litter exposed to rain/water to help the process. If you have a covered portion of the run that you want to make compost in, you could probably spray it down with a garden hose every so often. The ideal is to have the compost litter about the moisture level of a wrung-out sponge. The top inch or so of the litter might be bone dry, but underneath it should have that wrung-out sponge consistency.

I started out my chicken run compost system with a base layer of wood chips over the dirt ground once the chickens ate all the grass. Then, in the spring, I started dumping my grass clippings in the run on top of the wood chips. You want to be sure not to dump the grass clippings in a big pile, because they will heat up and smell really bad. I spread out my grass clippings and/or put them in small enough piles that the chickens will spread them out as they scratch and peck through the grass clippings.

My chickens like to eat some fresh grass clippings. Because I have hawks and Bald Eagles overhead all the time, I cannot let my chickens free range for grass and other greens. So, I bring the free range to them in terms of fresh grass clippings.

When I pull weeds from the lawn or garden, they also get tossed into the chicken run. The chickens might eat some of the weeds, and the rest gets mixed into the litter to become compost.

In the fall, I mow up my leaves with the riding mower and dump the leaves in big piles in the chicken run. It does not take long for my chickens to spread out the leaves and make everything level on their own. Evidently, there are lots of good bugs in all those leaves because my chickens will be scratching and pecking like crazy in those piles of leaves.

As the chickens scratch and peck through everything in the run, they continually mix the litter which aids in breaking down the compost even faster. By the end of that first summer, I was able to harvest wheelbarrow loads of compost that I put on my gardens to winter over. Since then, I have so much compost ready to harvest that I have given some away to neighbors for their gardens in addition to having more compost than I can use myself.

I had so much compost to use that I built another 6 raised garden food beds to grow people food for the family. This spring, I plan on building another 4 new raised beds, filling it with hügelkultur wood on the base, and then putting about 8 inches in the top with topsoil and chicken run compost mixed 1:1. Makes great raised beds.

Of course, I now have enough compost to top off my existing raised beds with chicken run compost in both the spring and fall.

If I had to buy the compost in bags that I now harvest from my chicken run, it would cost me hundreds of dollars every spring and summer. That's why I tell people I have composting chickens and get eggs as a bonus. So, I now grow more people food than I ever did before thanks to my chicken run compost but no longer go broke buying big box store compost in bags.

My chicken run never smells. After a nice rain, it smells like a forest floor, which I like. If you ever have any bad odors in the chicken run, you need to add more carbons like wood chips or leaves. I used to worry about the grass clippings clumping up and smelling as they decay, but if your chickens spread everything around like mine do, then you will have no problem. The uneaten grass clippings will dry out and mix in with the litter, making great compost.

 

[NatJ]

You seem to be the wood chipping compost expert around here. One more question to add to the thread please-my coop is enclosed and off the ground. I have covered the plywood floor with peel and stick laminate sheets for easier periodic clean outs (and think I’ll have to drill a few holes in bottom for drainage). Will wood chips still work as a composting base in there? If not, what do you recommend for traction for their little feet that won’t need to be cleaned daily? I have access to free wood chips and I have an abundance of pine needles.

Wood chips can be fine for in-coop bedding too. Pine needles should also be fine there.

On a floor like you describe, they will not actually compost. But they will still be fine bedding, and the chickens can scratch them around so the droppings get buried regularly. If the chickens don't scratch them around enough, you can turn over a few bits with a pitchfork, or toss some scratch, and they will probably get to work. Or you can just toss more fresh bedding on top of the obvious droppings. This is most common under the roost.

It often works well to add more bedding on top as needed, and then clean it all out at intervals (maybe twice a year, maybe more or less than that.)

You might clean it out when it starts to fall out the door even with a board across the bottom of the opening, or when you step inside and hit your head on the roof. Or you might clean it out when you have a free day but you know the next few months will be really busy, or when the run is wet and needs more material there (putting ex-coop bedding in the run, and fresh bedding in the coop).