We have some of our chickens on a cement pad in a 10x10 kennel. We thought this old dog run would be great, we could just hose it down, but the reality is they need to be on the ground.. Does anyone know if I could put boards around the base with flashing maybe, and add that construction sand and dirt. Their coop is large and it would be a pain to disassemle the wiring and coop to move it off the pad.
I think that sounds like a good idea. You could also offer them a large, sectioned off area of dirt or sand, so it doesn't have to be the whole run. Either with the material you were thinking about using, or a large container or something. Just a thought.
My pen is a 12x12 dog run, poultry net over the top (it's in the woods and there are hawks and owls) and net halfway up the side. Half has concrete block floor and half is dirt. I just put lots of wood chips down, they build up and become dirt and only rake it out and start fresh once or twice a year. The nice thing about a solid floor in that nothing could tunnel up and in.
