Chicken run- best material for floor that's proven????

[Egg Rookie 2010]

That should say POP door! Sheesh!

 

[Dandi_1987]

 

[cabincrazyone]

I've seen folks make the mistake of shoveling off the top soil to replace it with sand for the run. The LAST thing you want to do is create a low spot for rain to settle into. Put the sand on TOP of the ground where the run is, to make it higher and drier.

 

[galanie]

Unless you're not planning on covering the concrete in any way, such as with shavings, etc. I would not worry about it being too hard on their feet and legs. They don't have the weight to haul around that humans and horses do so your shavings or whatever should take care of that. If you worry anyway though, then rubber mat the concrete.

 

[Momagain1]

we are SO lucky to have a gravel/sand company literally 3 blocks from us; last time we ordered sand; they brought it down in a front loader lol..driving on small town streets..
love it! super cheap toO!

We plan on building up the run in a bit of a slanted slope with pea gravel then layer it with coarse sand...

that way it drains off to the garden hoping...

see anything wrong w/that idea??

 

[WoodlandWoman]

You might not want fresh manure water running into and splashing onto foods at ground level that you're going to be eating raw, like lettuce, radishes and bunching onions, as an example. It's better to feed them with composted manure. That way, any bad bacteria or other organisms that could be in the manure will get cooked in the compost pile and killed, before you use it.

So, maybe just think about how you have things placed, how far away the garden is and how much water will really be running that way. You may or may not have a problem.

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
Im in California too my rainy season is very short. I have Decomposed granite. works great for doing horse corrals. DG on top packes down almost like concrete. Then a layer of sand. though this time I am going to experiment with stall mats in one coop. (still in the planning stages)

 

[Momagain1]

Quote:
OH! DOH! Great point lolol...ugh...


maybe we can build it up towards the front of the run (West) and slope it down towards the back (East)...my garden is off to the side...(south)

 

[MakNugget]

Sand and Gravel.

I started with a couple yards, then added some construction sand as well as some gravel from Home Depot from time to time.

 

[al6517]

Quote:
Not so at all !!! all the floors are covered in a thick layer of replenishable wheat straw hay, they scratch around just fine and I have never had leg or feet problems at all ever with cement floors. I think have the ability to totally clean and disinfect the entire area a few times a year is certainly more important than having sand which will end up smelling to high heaven over time. I have had Cement floors for years and I own hundreds of show bred birds not just a half a dozen of Foo-Foo designer chickens, so I know what works and Cement work's !!.

AL