Cleaning the Run

[Smithyard Farm]

And give your neighbors eggs... that's what I do.. Good luck!

 

[Big Bubba]

Oh I didn't mention, I have one of those hoes that shaped like a square.... so when you push forward, it scrapes down a few inches... I hope you know what I mean. Sorry I didn't mean I didn't do "anything" , I just don't rake and scoop it out....

I scrape with the hoe probably at least once a week?? or when it needs it.. (like if its rainy and the dirt is hard) I normally do it because the chickies dig their holes and it bugs me that the "floor" is not even...

I have also added DE when it has gotten wet and didn't seem to dry out enough

It does not smell.... . I think I is so dry in there and they keep it turned up pretty well, everything is breaking down properly

I know exactly the hoe you are talking about. My wife's favorite tool. I always thought it was silly tool. Then I started using last year and use it all the time. I'll give it a try.

Thanks.

 

[Big Bubba]

And give your neighbors eggs... that's what I do.. Good luck!

Already been promised to everybody. They're already lining up.

 

[Motts]

I am no expert since my chicks are only a week old but there is a thread here and my friend uses bark. My friend is in a very urban area and she rakes it out when and if needed. On the thread here the person who uses it says he/she has not changed it in months and there was really no smell or issues. There were even pictures. It is kinda the idea I plan on going with for now. I live in a fairly high predator area with a local hawk that harasses my neighbors chickens routinely.

 

[PAChickenLady]

I have had my chickens for about a year now and have never had a problem with smell until recently. I thought it was their coop so I gave it a good scrubbing. It sparkles now, but the smell is obviously coming from their attached enclosed run. If I put sand in, how deep of a layer should it be? If I choose to keep it dirt, will sprinkling some DE down help? Raking didn't seem t do much of anything to alleviate the problem.

 

[c2chicks]

DE might help, but it's very temporary. I use sand at a depth of 4-6" and it's great! No smell and easy care. I do go out and use a kitty litter scoop sometimes, but it's not really necessary--they do a great job of mixing everything up by themselves. The only time I had an odor was when I thought I could get away with 2-3" of sand. It really needed to be deeper (maybe because of our clay soil). The deeper sand is great, our (uncovered) run is right next to the house and NO smell!! Also, there is one section of our run that is pine straw on top of the dirt, I've been noticing that the dirt/pine straw area attracts more flies (yuk) than the sand. The sand does a great job keeping the fly population down. I'm probably going to sand the entire run.

 

[MandalaMaMa]

This thread has been very helpful! I too have a enclosed run with part grass and part dirt. I have been raking the grass twice a week to break up the poo and rake the dirt daily to clean up the poo. So far it seems to be working but not sure what's going to happen this winter as I live on the Oregon coast and we get LOTS of rain. May be putting some sand down.

 

[PAChickenLady]

We've had a lot of rain the past few weeks ...that's when I started noticing the problem.

 

[patvetzal]

When the new neighbours move in, greet them with a dozen fresh eggs......

 

[PAChickenLady]

What about pine shavings? Will that help? My run is fairly large and it would take a LOT of sand to get a 5-6 inch layer...