Cleaning the run

[Inna25]

I have questions about cleaning the run. I am ok with the coop but still figuring out the maintenance for the run. We have had our 3 chickens for about 3 months and love them! We are in the Northeast, so cold snowy winter, some rain in the Fall/Spring. Our run is 4x9, covered with a tarp, and mostly stays dry but edges do get wet.

1) How much bedding should we put in the run? 1" or 1/2" thick - less or more?

2) What do you use for bedding in the run?
I don't love the idea of sand. We have tried hemp, dry leaves, pine needles, mulch, which all seem to be working ok. I'm just not sure how much to use and how to clean it.

3) How do you clean your run? An how often?
So far, we rake out the run once per week and replace bedding. If that too often? It seems like a lot of material to be throwing out every week! What do you do with the bedding-mixed-with-poop that your remove from the run? Our run is not full height, so it's not easy to get in there. I see some people use a cat litter scoop but that doesn't work with our bedding.

Thank you in advance!

 

[imnukensc]

I've never cleaned my 8X16 run. I just add stuff----leaves, twigs, grass clippings, shavings from the coop which gets changed once or twice a year.

 

[black_cat]

I don't ever 'clean' my run. I have dirt and mulchy leaf litter that I get in the woods behind my house. I add more material when I can see the poop piling up. When it gets really wet and smelly, I turn the dirt and add shavings, fresh dirt and sand and toss in some scratch for them to mix it.

 

[K0k0shka]

I don't clean the run. I just keep adding organic material (grass clippings, dry leaves, various debris raked from the yard, wood chips, etc.) The chickens turn it over pretty well. The idea is for everything to compost in place, not to be cleaned out.

 

[Sally PB]

So far, we rake out the run once per week and replace bedding. If that too often? It seems like a lot of material to be throwing out every week! What do you do with the bedding-mixed-with-poop that your remove from the run?

My compost pile is weeping. It really wants your bedding/poop mix. Sigh.

But here's the good news! Like people have posted here, you don't have to change the run bedding. I have added a bit of stuff, pine shavings, hemp, grass. And by a bit, I mean what was left over in the bag of pine, so I could throw the bag out and not have it sitting around.

As far as cleaning, I "clean" the run when I clean the scoop the poop off the poop board. A minute doing the board, maybe three in the run. Why do I bother? I want it for my compost.

 

[drinkoj]

1) 2" to 5" in depth. The chickens will scatter it around and it will naturally break down over time due to cold composting (earth against materials such as pine shavings/leaves/etc & then of course the chicken poop). When you clean out the coop materials, throw it in the run for further breakdown.

2) Pine shavings. Then I throw in shredded paper, used coffee grounds and the paper filter (doesn't break down great btw), leaves, and grass clippings as just extra, NOT the primary ingredient. All this leads back to #1 for the natural cold composting of the run materials.

3) Don't clean it, I do turn the material every few weeks with a pitch fork if I get the notion, but mainly throw out some mealworms or chicken grains and the birds do the work for me. Now, I like you get wet edges, so after a heavy rain, I will tend to wander out to the run and pitch fork stir the wet and dry materials to help things decompose a little better over all. I have very good drainage, so the middle isn't wet, only the edges of the run.

 

[3KillerBs]

I'm another fan of piling in the litter as needed.

I cleaned out my in-town run about twice a year, harvesting the compost for my garden.

 

[Inna25]

Thank you so much, everyone! This is super helpful!

 

[Inna25]

1) 2" to 5" in depth. The chickens will scatter it around and it will naturally break down over time due to cold composting (earth against materials such as pine shavings/leaves/etc & then of course the chicken poop). When you clean out the coop materials, throw it in the run for further breakdown.

2) Pine shavings. Then I throw in shredded paper, used coffee grounds and the paper filter (doesn't break down great btw), leaves, and grass clippings as just extra, NOT the primary ingredient. All this leads back to #1 for the natural cold composting of the run materials.

3) Don't clean it, I do turn the material every few weeks with a pitch fork if I get the notion, but mainly throw out some mealworms or chicken grains and the birds do the work for me. Now, I like you get wet edges, so after a heavy rain, I will tend to wander out to the run and pitch fork stir the wet and dry materials to help things decompose a little better over all. I have very good drainage, so the middle isn't wet, only the edges of the run.

Thank you for the detailed reply! Exactly what I was looking for!

 

[Ron in Sebring]

Add me to the list! I don’t clean out except for large pumpkin shells or something that they don’t eat...but that all gets added to the compost pile...I let the run get wet too...and turn it once in a while when it gets compacted with a garden fork to aerate and promote good soil composition for worms and grubs etc that the chickies love to dig for...Before you know it, you’ll have a healthy, natural run that the birds will love.

edited to add that I also have a large deep litter coop and any clean out gets tossed into the run and mixed in as well so that it’s not just a muddy mess of loose dirt out there..the material I use is chopped straw and pine flake in the coop and the run is a little hardwood mulch and coop clean out material...Works wonderfully...