Do I need to do anything special with the ground under the run?

[acissej]

I need to go out and sort of level the area where the coop is going, but do I need to do anything like add sand, etc? It's going on an area that we had topsoil laid a couple of years ago, but we put a garden in and made some mounds I need to flatten out. It's all weeds now

Also, you put shavings down on the floor of the inside of the coop right? But not outside in the run? I'm so confused. Heh.

 

[Peppermint]

I can't answer your question because our run is sand, but HOWDY NEIGHBOR!!!

 

[drunkdog]

it wont be weeds for long eventually (consesus seems to be about 3 months) I have sand and welcome from another local yokel to you

 

[tammyd57]

Our runs are sand floored. But so is every square inch of our 10 acres. The area we put the runs in was just a goat-head covered weedy area. The chickens have cleaned it up very nicely for us!

 

[CoyoteMagic]

Nope, I've got just plain ol' North Carolina red clay dirt. I don't clean the run out either. I let Mother Nature do that wash job!

 

[aussieheelr]

don't need to prepair in any way. Nothing you plant in there will live, they will eat it... unless it's cactus I don't think they would eat that. We just put posts in the ground, fenced it all in including the top since I'm paranoid and the chickens have been furtilizing and scratching in it ever since.

 

[CoyoteMagic]

I'm actually putting a 10x10 Quail Flight Pen/Aviary at the the back of my chicken run that will have weeds , a small tree and blackberries in it. Basicly what they normally have in the wild. These ones will be rasied up as my breeders of next year. Friend just hatched a dozen of them under her OEG. Lil'Kim is brooding them right now too until I can get over there to get them.