Adding soil to my run

[slaychul]

Hey All,
I live in the PNW and, well it rains a lot! We have a clay based soil up here and I was wondering what to add to make my run less crater-esq (the girls have dug a lot of pot holes). I bought a very specific top soil from the brand EB Stone, it only has sandy loam, mushroom compost and redwood compost in it. I am just worried about the sandy loam mostly. The run is usually covered in the sunny times. Sorry for the super specific post, any PNW/ Northern Cal gardeners may know this brand ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

If that isnt good, what do y'all suggest for a good option for a run that is a mix of things? I would love to do a sand run but if I ever move, leaving all that sand seems crazy!
Thanks!!

 

[davemonkey]

If the chickens are kept in the run most (or all) of the time, they are going to try to find spots to dust-bathe (possible source of your craters). Adding a sandier/easier-to-fluff soil will encourage that...but it's a good thing (they NEED to dust bathe).

But, you mentioned the rain. Is your concern just the existence of holes in the ground, or that they are full of water (since the soil is clayey)? If it's the water puddles that are the concern, then building up the run with sandier/loamier soil can help by raising the soil surface to a water-shedding position; and the craters will technically be occurring in a better drained profile of you new soil surface, which technically would not hold water [as well].

 

[fowltemptress]

Wood chips! A nice thick layer keeps things dry and the poop mixing into the wood makes for the perfect compost ratio. Dump a metric ton of wood chips into your run, then buy a small kiddy pool, place it where rain can't get at it, and fill it with sand or something so your chickens have a place they can dust bathe easily without trying to dig down to the earth through your thick layer of wood chips.

 

[Tahai]

I also have clay soil. I don't have rain like you do, but the spring and fall are pretty muddy. I use straw (and other random brown organics) and the deep litter method. Eventually, you will end up with a nice loam as the chickens scratch it all in. Sand in clay soil is pretty much worthless, and can make things worse if too much is added. (clay, sand, and straw is how bricks used to be made)

 

[Ridgerunner]

Sand in clay soil is pretty much worthless, and can make things worse if too much is added. (clay, sand, and straw is how bricks used to be made)

I disagree but your belief is extremely common. I'll use the components of your bricks to explain the functions of the different components in the recipe for brick.

What causes the hardness are the electric charges on the clay molecules. When you disturb wet clay electrical bonds are set up when it dries. That may be kiln dried like the bricks we use for modern buildings or foundations. They may be sun-dried like adobe. That's why you don't work a clay soil while it is wet. When it dries it can be hard as a brick. (Hard as adobe, not kiln dried.)

When clay dries it shrinks. Not good for most bricks. So you add enough sand so the sand particles touch each other. If you get the proportions right the sand does not shrink so the brick holds its shape and the clay still sets up brick hard.

When clay dries it can crack. From a mechanics of materials standpoint clay is not good in tension, like concrete. In concrete you add rebar to handle the tension. In adobe type brick you might add straw or animal hair.

When I made my raised bed gardens, I used mostly sand for good drainage. I added a small volume of pure clay (got it from a place that sells clay to make pottery so it would set up hard after working) and mixed the clay in well. That added a tremendous amount of certain nutrients (basically minerals) and I had a soil that drained well, was easy to work, and grew great vegetables, with irrigation.

To get back to the run. Mixing in a little sand have no real effect on drainage. If you build up a layer of sand on top of clay it will drain down as far as the clay. Lots of people do that. Eventually the sand will disappear down into the clay but it can really help.

 

[Ted Brown]

I second the addition of a layer of "wood chips". Some folks suggest ramial chipped wood as it is made from branches up to 3" in diameter which is claimed to be more nutritious and better at improving the earth it is layer over.

A mix of chip sizes better allows oxygen to penetrate into the mass to aid in breakdown of materials into compost.

I use wood chips that are manufactured as mulch for gardens. In addition I add leaves or needles from pines to the mix each fall.

In your situation I would add enough to raise the level inside the run well above the surrounding grounds. This should provide a mostly dry area for the flock and encourage any water that dies accumulate to drain off. Mixing soil in will provide the birds with the fines that they naturally use for critter control.

Good luck!

 

[perkolator]

Another vote for more wood chips and basically any organic materials you can - yard debris and leaves, garden scraps, etc. I treat my run like an oversize cold compost pile. Soil level inside run is higher than surrounding terrain after all my additions, and when water is sheeting off the hill above, the run is above the water. I use the topsoil from run in my gardening soil mixes. I HAD a dust bath in their run, but it filled with mulch from chickens kicking material everywhere, and they'd just dig their own hole elsewhere anyway.