Another run ground cover question!

[Plants_Pets_Projects]

i do not see large gate or access to bring in equipment to muck out the litter when time to change it out or add to it. with just ten birds in that big an area, i might just stay with dirt.

There's a man door on one end we can get the wheelbarrow in

 

[Plants_Pets_Projects]

Thanks everyone! Looks like I'll leave the run as-is then bring some chips in before the rain comes

 

[rosemarythyme]

Hardwood chip would be quite expensive for a run that size and would need adding to over time. Bare ground is just as capable of handling chicken poop

I think it really depends on the climate and location. I now see OP is in the Pacific NW, which can get very wet during certain times of the year. Even with good existing soil drainage and daily poop cleaning my uncovered dirt run became a muddy mess once the chickens killed off the grass. Just too much rain to not have some sort of added drainage, which wood chips help provide.

Wood chips are usually fairly easy to source in most of this general area and often available for free.

 

[Shadrach]

Thanks! The drainage... it's not the best. We may end up putting a French drain in or next to it.

This is in my opinion the correct way to go about drainage problems. Chucking stuff into a run that retains moisture to the point of flooding is like putting a sticking plaster on a wound that needs stiches.

 

[Shadrach]

I think it really depends on the climate and location. I now see OP is in the Pacific NW, which can get very wet during certain times of the year. Even with good existing soil drainage and daily poop cleaning my uncovered dirt run became a muddy mess once the chickens killed off the grass. Just too much rain to not have some sort of added drainage, which wood chips help provide.

Wood chips are usually fairly easy to source in most of this general area and often available for free.

Let me explain what I see in the OP's pictures.
There is a largish run, about two thirds of it with a hopefully waterproof sloping roof, the other third open to the elements. Both sections have one side protected by the coop building.
The section with the solid roof is not going to suffer much from direct rainfall; some will blow in from the open sides but in general this section should stay reasonably dry.
At the moment at least the run looks to be easy to work in and I've read that there is a human access door. I'm going to guess the door is 1 metre wide, or at least wide enough to get a wheel barrow through.
It looks to me that the OP is off to a good start.

Now let me show you what a neglected muddy run open to the elements looks like.

This doesn't look too bad given the rain had stopped some hours earlier. That film on the top is chicken shit basically. It forms a skin on top of the ground and it does this partly because every living thing has been stripped out of the soil. It's the living stuff in the ground that helps break down the chicken shit.
This run had apparently had all sorts of crap thrown into it to attempt to address the flooding problem, sand, wood mulch (note mulch) bits of pallet, pea gravel, concrete slabs; there is even a couple of 3 inch thick plastic walkways buried under the muck.

Here in the UK there are different types of woodchip.

https://www.barkukonline.co.uk/poultry-run-wood-chips

As you can see, a 1000 Litre bag isn't exactly cheap. The other point to notice is if you look at the other woodchip options there are cheaper softwood chips, bark chip and mulch. Softwood chips and mulch are not recommended for chicken runs due to the mould when they get damp.
The run in the picture is 6m x 6m approximately and to put a hardwood chip covering down at a minimum depth of 2 inches would require at least 1500 Litres.

I had to hand dig the entire run 18 inches deep in some places to get rid of all the accumulated crap that had been thrown in over the years.
It drains now. Natural ground is very good at soaking away water.

Assuming the OP got the right type of wood chip a further problem is hardwood chip isn't very good for the chickens feet. Quite a few cases of cuts and bubble foot are the result of hardwood chip coverings in the run.

From the pictures of the OP's coop and run I would think they've spent quite a lot of money on their coop and run.
What I would do with such a run is go in with a rotavator a couple of times a year and given the ground is clay, add compost which will help with the drainage.

Chicken like natural ground. Loose soil encourages digging and scratching, provides good soil for bathing and if properly maintained even a few bugs to eat.

 

[Plants_Pets_Projects]

Let me explain what I see in the OP's pictures.
There is a largish run, about two thirds of it with a hopefully waterproof sloping roof, the other third open to the elements. Both sections have one side protected by the coop building.
The section with the solid roof is not going to suffer much from direct rainfall; some will blow in from the open sides but in general this section should stay reasonably dry.
At the moment at least the run looks to be easy to work in and I've read that there is a human access door. I'm going to guess the door is 1 metre wide, or at least wide enough to get a wheel barrow through.
It looks to me that the OP is off to a good start.

Now let me show you what a neglected muddy run open to the elements looks like.
View attachment 3503363
This doesn't look too bad given the rain had stopped some hours earlier. That film on the top is chicken shit basically. It forms a skin on top of the ground and it does this partly because every living thing has been stripped out of the soil. It's the living stuff in the ground that helps break down the chicken shit.
This run had apparently had all sorts of crap thrown into it to attempt to address the flooding problem, sand, wood mulch (note mulch) bits of pallet, pea gravel, concrete slabs; there is even a couple of 3 inch thick plastic walkways buried under the muck.

Here in the UK there are different types of woodchip.

https://www.barkukonline.co.uk/poultry-run-wood-chips

As you can see, a 1000 Litre bag isn't exactly cheap. The other point to notice is if you look at the other woodchip options there are cheaper softwood chips, bark chip and mulch. Softwood chips and mulch are not recommended for chicken runs due to the mould when they get damp.
The run in the picture is 6m x 6m approximately and to put a hardwood chip covering down at a minimum depth of 2 inches would require at least 1500 Litres.

I had to hand dig the entire run 18 inches deep in some places to get rid of all the accumulated crap that had been thrown in over the years.
It drains now. Natural ground is very good at soaking away water.

Assuming the OP got the right type of wood chip a further problem is hardwood chip isn't very good for the chickens feet. Quite a few cases of cuts and bubble foot are the result of hardwood chip coverings in the run.

From the pictures of the OP's coop and run I would think they've spent quite a lot of money on their coop and run.
What I would do with such a run is go in with a rotavator a couple of times a year and given the ground is clay, add compost which will help with the drainage.

Chicken like natural ground. Loose soil encourages digging and scratching, provides good soil for bathing and if properly maintained even a few bugs to eat.

This is very thorough! Thank you, I will definitely take all this into consideration

 

[KyCoop]

Get your ditches, dams, drains and gutters going NOW before your faced with boot sucking mud. Trust and believe a lot of us have fought that battle.
Once you do that, there is no reason bare dirt won't work especially if you don't mind a little scooping and raking.
I personally like a couple inch layer of pine pellet sawdust. Makes it easier to clean up the "less than solid" poops.

 

[Hummingbird Meadows WA]

You don't need to put anything on the ground.
Plain natural ground is fine. Chickens should have access to natural ground, not sand.
It won't take long for the chickens to strip all the vegitation in the run.
If you find you have waterlogging problems then proper drainage is the answer.
If you are happy poop cleaning in the run that's fine. The way I would tackle a run like that in the picture is to use a thin bladed mattock to break the soil up as and when necessary.

Is your suggestion to just use the natural ground that is there and then "rototill" it kind of like deep litter method?