Grass-less Dirty Chicken Run

[Hedgeland Farms]

I have 19 chickens and 7 ducks. My grass, too, is gone. I use deep litter now with soil, pine shavings, leaves, and chipped branches.

I plan to make grazing boxes to get some green growing in their yard. In the past, I've rotated potted plants in and our if their run.

This!!!
I use deep litter in their run, mostly pine shavings and cut grass.
No smell, I do see some poo but thats to be expected I think.

I too plan to make a grazing box!!

 

[3KillerBs]

Welcome to BYC. Where, in general, are you? Climate matters.

If 3 POL pullets managed to destroy all the grass in just a couple weeks I have to suspect that either their run is quite small or that you live in a difficult climate.

Here are the usual guidelines for chickens' space needs.

For each adult, standard-sized hen you need:

• 4 square feet in the coop (.37 square meters)
• 10 square feet in the run (.93 square meters),
• 1 linear foot of roost (.3 meters),
• 1/4 of a nest box,
• And 1 square foot (.09 square meters) of permanent, 24/7/365 ventilation, preferably located over the birds' heads when they're sitting on the roost.

If you show us photos of your coop and run we can help you figure out what's going on and how best to fix it.

That said, all but truly pasture-sized runs will almost certainly end up needing some kind of litter in them.

Any sort of dry organic material will work, though different ones have different pros and cons.

Some common options are:

• Wood chips
• Wood shavings
• Straw
• Dry leaves
• Grass clippings/other yard and garden waste

Less common/regionally available options include pine straw, rice hulls, ground corncobs, and undoubtedly others that I'm not aware of.

Basically, any compost "brown" will work.

Personally, I like a mix of different materials because I think that using a mix gives me the advantages of many of them while minimizes the drawbacks.

 

[Callender Girl]

I haven't had grass in my runs or in the portion of the yard where they "free range" in years. Today's welcome rain will mean a muddy mess everywhere. And, the straw I've been using during the Very Long drought will be a soggy mess.

Like @Aunt Angus, I'm planning to build grazing boxes next year.

In one of my coops, I have put together an outdoor "floor" out of a few cedar boards fastened side by side so the chickens can stay out of the mud in part of the run.

 

[KyCoop]

It depends on your location and your goal. If your goal is clean feet and your in an are that gets a lot of rain, a covered run is ideal (always recommend anyway) with some sort of litter. If your in a dry area then sand might work for you.
The point is you have options. except for grass. The grass is gone an won't come back.

 

[GreenieBeaner]

Hi!
I have 3, 21 week old hens, (I'm a first time chicken owner) and within the first 2 weeks of them being in their coop and run, they destroyed and ate up all the grass! All that's left is feathers, dirt, and chicken poop. I try to let them out every day to free range for a bit, but I'm worried it's not enough. (Plus, their feet get all dirty when they go back to the run, and it doesn't smell all that great either!!) What do I do? Should I try to free range them more, and give the run floor a break? The coop is right next to my house, so predators aren't a big issue, but it's still a worry I have.
Should I get another attachment run and lock them out of the old one until the grass comes back?
It's really embarrassing to have people come and see the chickens since it looks so gross, and stinks, too.
If you managed to get through all that reading (lol), could you help me? Any suggestions?

Thank you everyone for your suggestions! I figured out a system
I've started taking up all the dead grass after mowing, and putting it in the run (along with some pine shavings, etc) and just replacing the pooped on parts! I'm also starting to let them free range more often, with supervision, so the run ground gets a break from the constant scratching. It looks much nicer, their feet don't get dirty anymore, and it smells a lot less! (I also sprinkle some lavender in there, so that helps).
Thanks peeps! (Haha, see what I did there?)
-jo

 

[Ascholten]

It all depends on 'your' situation Ted. Some people have just enough birds that the natural decomposition can keep up with what the birds produce, and between them scratching and throwing dirt all over, especially when they find worms !! that they don't have to remove any of the bedding.

If it's rainy season and you are getting an inch of rain every day, then no it may take longer for you because everything is so wet. If it's winter and you live up north, then no, it won't work that way if everything is frozen.

From my experience I find that it takes about 4 weeks for the grass to get 'gone' via chicken pickin, the crap matting because the ground is still hard and packed grass roots not dug up yet. and the fly infestation because you got un 'being worked with' crap laying on packed grass, that the flies can get right into.-- to the point where the ground HAS been dug up, HAS been mixed with the pine shavings they also threw all over at this point, as they dug in there for bug goodies, the dirt HAS been dug a few inches deep so is now, loose and fluffy because it's being dug up and turned over and it's doing its thing

BECAUSE it is loose and getting 'new stuff' in it, it now attracts worms, who also eat left over food and chicken crap. The worms dig in from below. The worms attract chickens, who dig even further now, to find more worms, which also further mixes the stuff up, digs the hard stuff to soft mixed up stuff, deeper. soon you have 4 to 6 inches of nice worked compost, very loose, which lends to very good drainage, which also leads to very quick encapsulation of any new crap that hits it, .. it quickly surrounds it, the dust and dirt sticks, and it gets quickly mixed down into the rest of the composting compost. This keeps the smell to a minimum, and the flies are not really there anymore either.

It is very possible to reach a state of an equilibrium if you are not pushing the process harder than what it can naturally sustain, depending on your condition.

Another thing to consider. many people dig the compost out, not because they have to, because it's overflowing, but because they WANT IT. This stuff is black gold in gardens. I will rake mine once a month, to get the goodies, but leave just enough that it can still sustain itself, to continue the process.

if you have gone 3 years just adding stuff, then your process is already well going. Did you honestly think 3 years worth of poo would just sit there doing nothing? and NOT stink or turn into a 5 foot pile, without Something happening?

The fact that you are, or even sometimes HAVE to ADD to it shows that it is working. BTW worms will also take along with them, compost as well. If you ever had an oudside composter that was not an entirely enclosed container, you will notice that not only IN it is compost but the whole area around it probably for 4 to 5 feet is all soft, mixed up, super rich soil, because the worms carrying stuff with them OUT of the original contained area.


aaron

 

[NatJ]

doesn't the larger mulch make is difficult to rake and clean the run, such as cleaning up poop and random craps?

It's a different way to manage the run: instead of the person cleaning up the poop and removing it, the poop and the mulch slowly decompose. When it works right, it doesn't stink, saves work for the person, and seems to suit the chickens very well. (If it doesn't work right, that is often because it is too wet, or because there are too many chickens for the amount of space & mulch. There can be other problems, but those seem to be the most common two.)

 

[RoyalChick]

Do know up front though, even though you provided your 20 hens with 5 or 6 individualized nesting boxes to accommodate all their egg laying needs in comfort, they will all fight over box 3, left corner to lay their eggs in

If I may add to 3B's comments, most people eventually have to do 'something' with the run bottoms. Sooner or later you will need to remove all the stuff that's built up over time. Rare is the coop where it just magically, is not a problem. Most people compost it, use it for other gardening needs, or sell / barter it with others who will. Almost nobody just bags it up and throws it in the trash.

With that being said, having a varied mix to begin with on the bottom. Green / Brown compost material, just makes it really, Ready to go out of the box. Shovel it out and you can immediately use it in your flower beds, veggie rows, whatever, with minimal extra work needed to 'make' it ready. Little time savers mean a lot in the life of a gardener !

Aaron

I am not so systematic. Around planting time I go into the run with a bucket and dig up wonderful compost that has magically been created by my lovely ladies when I wasn't watching. Every now and then I dig up a corn cob that is still whole and have to throw that back in for a second go-around.

 

[Auntiejessi3]

I'm in the same boat as OP with the exception of smelling. My run floor is dirt and is completely covered so not that much rain gets in. I like the idea of possibly putting mulch into the run my only hesitancy is doesn't the larger mulch make is difficult to rake and clean the run, such as cleaning up poop and random craps?

That's the whole point, NOT to clean up poop anymore, you don't need to

 

[RoyalChick]

I'm in the same boat as OP with the exception of smelling. My run floor is dirt and is completely covered so not that much rain gets in. I like the idea of possibly putting mulch into the run my only hesitancy is doesn't the larger mulch make is difficult to rake and clean the run, such as cleaning up poop and random craps?

I have some covered and some open runs. I don’t rake up poop in any of them. It has been about three and a half years. No smell.
The open runs rot down very fast and I just keep adding leaves.
I don’t really understand how the covered ones rot down as they seem too dry - but maybe there is enough moisture somewhere below the surface. Anyway, somehow it all breaks down and the worms come and feast and so do other insects which makes the chickens happy and keeps them entertained.