Can anyone tell me what the desired material is for the chicken run. Mine is a combination of some grass that's barely hanging in there, dirt, and I put grit by the door. I've noticed that some runs look like they might use sand or rock. Thanks.
I put sand in mine and it is great. They enjoy dusting in it too. It is so easy to scoop the poop out, I just go through once a day with a kitty litter scooper. The poo stinks less too coated in sand! Thank goodness! I hope you find what you are looking for.
The grass will not last very long. We have found that the best, by far, is sand. It is the easiest to take care of. Sometimes I just wash it down and rake it and it is like new and sometimes I add more sand. It keeps everything really nice and clean and there is a lot less flies.
Yes, I now see that there is another post all about run floors. It looks like the best floors are either play sand or large ponderosa chips. What's the cost of sand and does one have a truckload delivered usually?
I use sand as well. You can either get a few bags from Home Depot etc or inquire about getting a truckload delivered depending on how big your area is.
We love the sand in our run!! We went to a local quarry and paid about $24 for two bobcat scoops full of river sand. A bit more than we needed for 8x8 run, but the girls love digging through it and taking dust baths in it. I might start using it inside the coop as well!
There's no real need to add anything unless you're having drainage problems. Plain dirt is fine as long as it's dry
