concrete run

[Selfsuffice]

Hello-

Thank you again for the wealth of knowledge on this forum.

I come to you with another question. There is a large concrete area on the land I intend to buy. It used to be a tennis court, I would say it is about the size of a tennis court without the sidelines. It has 15ft chain link walls around all but the entrance and exit areas.

Is this a bad place to have chickens? I was thinking I could put the coop at one end with the exit into the tennis court. I could probably put straw down over the whole thing, but it is a large area and I wouldnt be able to change it often.

I suspect that the concrete floor might be a little rough on chicken feet as from what Ive read they will scratch constantly.


Thanks

 

[julie75]

In my personal opinion I would say no. The floor of my coop is slanted concrete because it makes it easier to clean but it opens into a dirt run. I think chickens like to scratch and forage too much to be on concrete all the time.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
I'd say sure, go for it, as long as you can put some reasonable depth of material over a whole lot of the area. You can look around at what your options are locally; some major good options would include sand, roadbase (a cheap mixed aggregate), tree chippings, or straw. Whether you live in a wet or dry, hot or cold, climate will influence your choice of materials, so I can't make any more specific suggestions without knowing where you are.

I would aim for AT LEAST a 6" depth of material over at least "a good bit of" the area; deeper is a lot better, and you will definitely have to add to it periodically (particularly if you use an organic as opposed to mineral material).

I have some of my runs on concrete (because, like you, I just had it there); as long as there is a good depth of material covering it to let the chickens scratch adn dig, they seem quite happy and healthy with it.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat