Best base material for runs

[BoogieBird]

This is great B-Goock! Definitely can plant the good stuff for the girls. Mr. Man in my house is building me cages/cold frames (to keep the dagnab squirrels out) but they will work too for them. Thank you!

 

[B-Goock]

Another thing I have in my runs are small trees that I cut down so they just grow suckers off the stumps. (my run area was woods) My "bushes" were mulberry trees. With those I was hoping that they would get berries on them but the chickens just eat on the greens.

Another idea you could just use planters and move them in and out of the run. Simple but with planters they will eat them down in no time.

You could maybe even get fancy and have a door that hinges from the middle of the pen between corners that have a single board making a triangle in the corner. Just latch the door this way or that to select which garden they get to gobble up.

Now the real good question that would go along with this idea. What to plant that will grow fast, be inexpensive, and chickens like to eat?
On sale year old garden seeds.
This year right beside the run I planted beets, turnips, and peas that were year old seeds. They are planted close enough they can eat the greens through the fence.

 

[lithiachick]

B-G. You have fantastic ideas. Would using hardware cloth or chicken wire over the planters prolong the life of the plant at all? What do you think? Thanks

 

[Michael OShay]

Thank you!  I'm going to see if I can find somewhere to buy a pickup load of sand.

Do not put a fine sand in the run such as playground sand or beach sand as it sometimes impacts chicken's crops. Fine pea gravel is better. If you do use sand, use a course river sand with varying sized pebbles in it.

 

[B-Goock]

You mean allow access to the plants but have wire just over them so they can't eat it to the ground? I guess you could. Depending on what you plant you could leave the wire on there all the time if its something that will fit under the wire. Maybe different grasses or something that grows like that.

I thought about getting some honey suckle that grows in my woods because they like eating it and it grows fast.

 

[lithiachick]

Thanks, that's sounds worth a try! What do I have to lose?

 

[B-Goock]

the only thing I can think of is they won't have access to the dirt and the yummy to them bugs that live in the dirt. At least they will have some fresh greens. I would just make the wire so you can remove it if need be for planting or if you just want to let them scratch around in the dirt for worms. Either way you can rotate which planter boxes they are allowed to get into.
One of my black sex links almost sits on my shovel if I'm digging because she knows I'll dig up worms. LOL She throws a fit when I'm digging in the garden and she can't get in there with me. Last time I ate any worms was when I was in the military and they didn't taste that good to me. ha ha

One idea I had for attracting bugs for them to snack on is to stack and nail boards and leave a small gap (like 1/4") between the boards then place it in the run. Those yummy bugs like dark, tight, moist areas to crawl around in and they love to hide under wood. Free high protein food!

 

[lithiachick]

the only thing I can think of is they won't have access to the dirt and the yummy to them bugs that live in the dirt.  At least they will have some fresh greens.  I would just make the wire so you can remove it if need be for planting or if you just want to let them scratch around in the dirt for worms.  Either way you can rotate which planter boxes they are allowed to get into.
One of my black sex links almost sits on my shovel if I'm digging because she knows I'll dig up worms.  LOL  She throws a fit when I'm digging in the garden and she can't get in there with me.  Last time I ate any worms was when I was in the military and they didn't taste that good to me.  ha ha

One idea I had for attracting bugs for them to snack on is to stack and nail boards and leave a small gap (like 1/4") between the boards then place it in the run.  Those yummy bugs like dark, tight, moist areas to crawl around in and they love to hide under wood.  Free high protein food!

These would be in a couple planter boxes only. They will have the foresty floor to dig around in all day. I want some planter boxes about 3 high and tiered so they can climb around on them and maybe pick around at some grass or different plants. I'll look into honey suckle. I guess fast would be good for sure. I don't want them to get bored. They are only 3 days old so won't be in the coop and run for a while, lol.

 

[RonP]

I posted this on another query:

My run is 14'x14'. I started my run with a minimum of 10 inches of free wood chips supplied by a local tree service. Five years later, my run is 8 to 20 inches high of compost - the top 5 or 6 inches being fresh wood chips and leaf litter. I have never cleaned the run. No odors, no mud, no bugs. Water drains well from the "hill". The level seems to remain constant, fine compost also disappears out of the coop's 1/2 inch screen as the chickens kick it out.

 

[hollyannlamb]

Do not put a fine sand in the run such as playground sand or beach sand as it sometimes impacts chicken's crops. Fine pea gravel is better. If you do use sand, use a course river sand with varying sized pebbles in it.

Thanks for the information Michael!