Eglu run bedding options?

[Tdoten]

We have 5 Orpingtons in an eglu coop with run. We got the option with wheels to make it a tractor style thinking that if we moved it that our grass could survive... with a 1x/week move our grass is really struggling not to mention I don’t want their living conditions to be poor. I could use some advice:

1) move more often? How often? (Our yard is pretty small and not many spaces to move it to)
OR
2)keep it stationary with bedding instead? What kind of bedding (we live in south Texas with a lot of heat and rain regularly). If we put in bedding won’t they just kick it out of the run?

thanks for the help! We’re not sure what the best way to keep our girls healthy and our yard in decent condition.

 

[rosemarythyme]

How big is the run? I admit a tractor is probably more work than I'm willing to manage so a stationary run is what I'd do, but not sure if the run you have is going to be large enough to do that with.

 

[Tdoten]

@rosemarythyme its a 9ft run. I’ll post a photo here shortly.

 

[wyoDreamer]

Move more often.

 

[Tdoten]

Move more often.

How often would you suggest it be moved?

 

[rosemarythyme]

Hmm just looking at the grass in the photo I think it's going to get pretty clawed up even if you move every other day or so (I have extremely dense grass... yes chickens will still destroy it).

Would you happen to know how wide the run is? 9' x X'? Personally I'd consider doing a permanent run somewhere, with the tractor as an occasional option if you want them to have some time on the grass but not leave them completely loose either.

 

[aart]

How often would you suggest it be moved?

Might depend on your goals.
If you're trying to preserve the vegetation, more often, every 2-3 days.
It's more about the accumulation of nitrogen and phosphorus,
than the physical tearing up of the vegetation.
You'll have to play it by eye, experiment.

Where in this world are you located?
Climate, and time of year, is almost always a factor.
Please add your general geographical location to your profile.
It's easy to do, (laptop version shown), then it's always there!

 

[Tdoten]

9x4. Yeah unfortunately our grass took a beating this summer. It was in much better condition earlier this year but we had a hot dry summer followed by a lot of rain in the last few weeks. so you believe moving even every couple of days would basically leave our yard trashed wherever we put it?

if that’s the case what would you suggest we place in the bottom of the run?

 

[Tdoten]

@aart thabks. Just updated it. I’m in southern Texas (Corpus Christi)

 

[Tdoten]

@aart as far as the goal - optimally we would like to be able to preserve the grass which is why we opted for the tractor option. However our grass is pretty sad at the moment already which doesn’t help .

I’m trying to figure out if we move it every 2-3 days will that be often enough or will we just end up destroying patches of grass all over the yard in the process.