Things to put in the run

[roj]

A bunny in the run? Interesting! How does that work?

 

[bywaterdog]

About 2X per month in the fall and winter I add a (lawn) trash bag of dried leaves into their run. I then daily toss a handful of scratch or layer pellets into the leaf pile. They spend hours scratching through the leaves to find the hidden "treats." This keeps them busy, quiet and gives a nice non-muddy base to the run. In the summer I do the same with bags of grass clippings (pesticide free.)
Every spring I roto-till the run and get to remove about 5-6 inches of composted soil for my gardens.

 

[Momagain1]

I thought the chickens would get "stopped up" in their crop w/the grass clippings?? cause we have a LOT of them we can use to throw in there once in a while..

 

[One Silly Chicken]

Question: Should you cover the top of the run area? I have my coop & run in the woods (alot of tall trees) but I was worried about hawks flying in & taking my chickens.

 

[calista]

Quote:
Ha, you jest, but I actually had a carpenter friend make me a chicken exercise wheel from an opossum-rescue website:

http://www.opossumsocietyus.org/opossum_exercise_wheel.htm

Now I just need to take delivery of my spring chicks and wait for them to grow up and curiosity to take over, especially if I put treats on the wheel surface.

 

[terry's chicks]

I am having a problem finding out what to put over our run, it's 30'x30' fence is 5' high, a couple of trees in middle of run? We have every predator possible here where we live, In the woods, I thought about deer netting, but afraid the preditors would climb up and fall in. we have lots of hawks, foxes, racoons possums. it would be very expensive to use hardwire to cover that big of an area? Thought about chicken wire?

 

[elmo]

Quote:
Yes, that's a risk. You can approach it several ways. Some people string wire with old cds attached to them over the top of the run. Some use deer netting, bird netting, etc. Some use chicken wire or hardware cloth. It just depends on your set up and what is feasible.

If your run has lots of trees and bushes, the chickens will hopefully learn to use these as natural cover to hide from hawks, too. But it's a risk, definitely.

 

[elmo]

terry's chicks :

I am having a problem finding out what to put over our run, it's 30'x30' fence is 5' high, a couple of trees in middle of run? We have every predator possible here where we live, In the woods, I thought about deer netting, but afraid the preditors would climb up and fall in. we have lots of hawks, foxes, racoons possums. it would be very expensive to use hardwire to cover that big of an area? Thought about chicken wire?

Hawks are daytime predators, but the others you mention are usually (although not always) nocturnal. Some people approach the problem by locking their chickens inside a secure coop at night. Then they only worry about securing their runs from typical daytime predators.​

 

[Zinmaker]

I have a couple of saw horses in the run. Didn't have a place to store them, and my chickens seem to like the saw horses as a perch. Thanks for all of the other ideas peeps.

 

[GarlicEater]

I like the branch idea. I have some acacia branches I cut, good hard wood. I can put some of those in the open area besides of course their roosting perch up high and sheltered for them to sleep on.