Do I need to put anything down in my run?

[auntbee]

Our run is pure dirt/clay. Do we need to put sand or shavings or anything in it? The chicks are still too little to put out there, but not much longer! How hard will it be to clean with just dirt? Will we need to clean at all (for some reason dh says we won't have to, I think it's wishful thinking)? Thanks!

 

[hwerner]

I have a pure dirt pen, I've added no sand, wood shavings, etc. My birds do free range after breakfast though until bedtime. I wouldn't think you would need to clean the run unless it gets really nasty. I don't know how bad it could get though, as mine do a lot of free range and are hardly ever in their pen. We don't clean the pen, we just let the rain take care of things, but like I said they aren't in it but maybe an hour a day. We do clean their coop every other month though.

I do have a friend that has all of her chickens in an enclosed pen and coop, just dirt flooring. They never clean the floor area, and haven't had any problems.

 

[auntbee]

Thanks. We live in a neighborhood, so ours won't be out of their coop/run unless we are home, and even then we have a small backyard. We also live in the desert, so it doesn't really rain here.

 

[mylilchix]

Our run is dirt, but I gave the flock a bale of straw to play on. They're slowly ripping it apart and covering the run with it. When that bale's done and the run is icky I'll just rake it up and give them a new one!

Sonja

 

[angels4]

Sonja I was planning on doing the same...I even bought the bale of straw, but read somewhere that sometime the girls eat the large bits of straw and it causes an impacted or compacted crop. Have you had any issues with this?