chickens on concrete

[louisebailes]

my chucks and quails are in a converted dog kennel and run, they spend 70% of there time on a concrete run they do come play in the garden, but i also have a terrier who would love a leg to chew on,and a 3 year old who doesnt care about gates ect, to increses there quality of life i was wondering about buying a big litter tray and filling it with sand or dirt so they can kick around? any ideas or suggestions

 

[lowry075]

I think something to enable them to dust bathe in would be great. I started my coop in a dog run, but it was too dark on the side of the house I could use and we expanded the set up into my back yard. If you were able to do this, maybe it would provide them with some dirt?

 

[teach1rusl]

Chickens enjoy being able to scratch and peck about, so being on concrete most of the time isn't really good. Could you frame in the bottom of the dog run with 2x4s or 2x6s and fill the whole thing with sand??? You can get it by the 1/2 ton or ton from most any mulch or rock company... It's easy to clean, and the birds would have the entire area to scrach/peck about in.

 

[chi-rn]

These pans (http://www.amazon.com/Little-Giant1...B4V0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1313881121&sr=8-1) are great for dust baths! They're heavy & virtually indestructible and untippable by chickens. You can mix fine-grain sand, a bit of wood ash from your fireplace/woodstove, a a bit of food-grade diametaceous earth in the pan. Your chickens "bathe" in this type of dust. They'll love you for it!

 

[JanetR]

My run is about 1/2 concrete. About twice a week I gather up a bucketfull of leaves, weeds and grass clippings from the yard and dump them on the concrete. The girls love to scratch through it and it helps keep their poop off the concrete.

 

[louisebailes]

thankyou so much for all those ideas, my mission this week.................. sort them a nice dusty type area thanks ever so much xx