Cleaning a run

[Mandied]

Is there any specific things you need to do to keep oder down in your run when the chickens poop. We have grass in our run?

 

[DobieLover]

You won't have grass for very much longer.
I use a thick layer of wood chips.

 

[Mandied]

You won't have grass for very much longer.
I use a thick layer of wood chips.

Okay what are your thoughts of doing the coffee bedding in there as well.

 

[MarlaMac]

Is there any specific things you need to do to keep oder down in your run when the chickens poop. We have grass in our run?View attachment 3299657View attachment 3299661View attachment 3299669View attachment 3299672

Our chickens free range all day and usually come over to our yard and hang out around/under our decks and leave their markings all over our grass. I just take a hose and wash the poop into the grass when they leave the area in the evenings. Takes away the smells and fertilizes the grass too. But, I do agree with Dobielover, if they are on this limited area of grass all day long, it will be gone soon. In the run attached to their coop we just have dirt, but I do the same thing there - just wash it in with the hose when they are not in it. I don't have to do that often though - they are just in it from sunset to last light for the most part and then they are in the coop before the auto door shuts. Still have the run attached to the coop for that very reason, it gives me a peace of mind that I can shut the door to the run and not worry about predators between sunset and last light.

 

[Mandied]

Our chickens free range all day and usually come over to our yard and hang out around/under our decks and leave their markings all over our grass. I just take a hose and wash the poop into the grass when they leave the area in the evenings. Takes away the smells and fertilizes the grass too. But, I do agree with Dobielover, if they are on this limited area of grass all day long, it will be gone soon. In the run attached to their coop we just have dirt, but I do the same thing there - just wash it in with the hose when they are not in it. I don't have to do that often though - they are just in it from sunset to last light for the most part and then they are in the coop before the auto door shuts. Still have the run attached to the coop for that very reason, it gives me a peace of mind that I can shut the door to the run and not worry about predators between sunset and last light.

Thank you, we have alot of skunks, opossum, and raccoons along with cats and dogs so we definitely want our pertected.

 

[perkolator]

In my experience, skunks can dig under a fence and raccoons can reach through those fence holes — So if you have those predators you’re going to want to add protection with hardware cloth added to that chicken wire - a perimeter fence 18-24” tall and about the same length horizontally on ground as an anti-dig skirt.

That grass will soon be bare dirt. As for bedding, any organic material would be my choice - arborist mulch, straw, leaves, wood shavings, grass clippings, etc. several inches deep. You can do coffee grounds but that would be A LOT of grounds to cover the area

 

[Mandied]

In my experience, skunks can dig under a fence and raccoons can reach through those fence holes — So if you have those predators you’re going to want to add protection with hardware cloth added to that chicken wire - a perimeter fence 18-24” tall and about the same length horizontally on ground as an anti-dig skirt.

That grass will soon be bare dirt. As for bedding, any organic material would be my choice - arborist mulch, straw, leaves, wood shavings, grass clippings, etc. several inches deep. You can do coffee grounds but that would be A LOT of grounds to cover the area

We do have hardwirecloth along the bottum which goes up about 4 1/2 to 5 ft from the ground and thanks I can get straw for pretty much nothing so we might get that and put down.

 

[Ridgerunner]

If I remember right you only have three chickens, all small breeds. I don't know how big that area is. I would not put any bedding on it until they wiped out the grass, if they do. Sometimes they don't. That will depend on how big it is and your climate. One of my favorite suggestions is "go by what you see, not what we say you will see." Sometimes we are wrong. I'd rather have grass instead of any of that other stuff.

Wet is your enemy as far as it stinking. If that area stays wet when you have wet weather, it's low and water stands in it or just drains to it, you are going to have more problems. If water drains away from it and it stays relatively dry you are much less likely to have problems. I can't tell from the photo but that looks like it may have clay in it. Clay tends to hold water, sand drains well.

Poop load is important. The more chickens you have in a certain area and the longer they are in that area the more poop they drop. If poop builds up it tends to not dry out. My chickens spend most of the day every day in an electric netting area covered with grass. It is big enough that they do not wipe the grass out and the poop is so spread out that it is not a problem. They spend a short time in my run and the run drains pretty well so it is not a problem. The only time they are in my coop is to lay eggs and sleep. I use droppings boards to get that nighttime poop out and onto my compost pile. The only poop I have to manage is on those droppings boards. There are people on this forum that have to do a lot more than that and some that do less than me.

To me, bedding in the run has two main purposes. If your run is muddy the bedding can give you and the chickens a clean place to walk. That can be important. They need to be able to get out of the mud to avoid feet problems. It is also much nicer to not have to work in mud for you and they are less likely to track mud into the nests and onto the eggs.

If bedding is dry it will absorb moisture. It will dry the poop out and maybe some other moisture. If it is wet it cannot absorb moisture. If an organic bedding material like straw, hay, wood shavings, wood chips, grass clippings, or dried leaves stays wet long enough to start rotting it can stink and/or mold. Some people have had to remove the bedding when it became part of the problem if it stayed wet.

Sometimes adding bedding to a problem run can work wonders. If you have a problem it is something worth trying. Some people turn their coop floor or run floor into a compost pile and solve problems that way. You never know for sure what will or won't work until you try it. But I try to not solve a problem until I know I have a problem. I don't know if you will or not.

 

[Mandied]

If I remember right you only have three chickens, all small breeds. I don't know how big that area is. I would not put any bedding on it until they wiped out the grass, if they do. Sometimes they don't. That will depend on how big it is and your climate. One of my favorite suggestions is "go by what you see, not what we say you will see." Sometimes we are wrong. I'd rather have grass instead of any of that other stuff.

Wet is your enemy as far as it stinking. If that area stays wet when you have wet weather, it's low and water stands in it or just drains to it, you are going to have more problems. If water drains away from it and it stays relatively dry you are much less likely to have problems. I can't tell from the photo but that looks like it may have clay in it. Clay tends to hold water, sand drains well.

Poop load is important. The more chickens you have in a certain area and the longer they are in that area the more poop they drop. If poop builds up it tends to not dry out. My chickens spend most of the day every day in an electric netting area covered with grass. It is big enough that they do not wipe the grass out and the poop is so spread out that it is not a problem. They spend a short time in my run and the run drains pretty well so it is not a problem. The only time they are in my coop is to lay eggs and sleep. I use droppings boards to get that nighttime poop out and onto my compost pile. The only poop I have to manage is on those droppings boards. There are people on this forum that have to do a lot more than that and some that do less than me.

To me, bedding in the run has two main purposes. If your run is muddy the bedding can give you and the chickens a clean place to walk. That can be important. They need to be able to get out of the mud to avoid feet problems. It is also much nicer to not have to work in mud for you and they are less likely to track mud into the nests and onto the eggs.

If bedding is dry it will absorb moisture. It will dry the poop out and maybe some other moisture. If it is wet it cannot absorb moisture. If an organic bedding material like straw, hay, wood shavings, wood chips, grass clippings, or dried leaves stays wet long enough to start rotting it can stink and/or mold. Some people have had to remove the bedding when it became part of the problem if it stayed wet.

Sometimes adding bedding to a problem run can work wonders. If you have a problem it is something worth trying. Some people turn their coop floor or run floor into a compost pile and solve problems that way. You never know for sure what will or won't work until you try it. But I try to not solve a problem until I know I have a problem. I don't know if you will or not.

Thank you so much. That really does help alot.