Grass-less Dirty Chicken Run

[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?

 

[seminolewind]

I have really good luck with that shredded mulch. My pen is covered with it. Yes it needs replenishing about yearly. It is carefree. I don't notice an odor from it and the poop just magically disappears! Makes a pen look good.

 

[Aunt Angus]

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.

 

[SmiYa0126]

I clean up poo every morning, but then free range the rest of the day. In the winter I don't free range as much I clean up poo twice a day or more. I use mulch, leaves, straw, some pine shavings for their litter. Only rarely have poop stuck to their feet . If your run is covered you could try deep litter, if you don't have good drainage you'd need to clean up after them, and also put some litter down.

 

[SourRoses]

It's impossible to keep grass in a chicken run
I'm fond of sand since we have it naturally here and it helps dry out the poo for easy raking.
A lot of folks use deep litter and rarely need to clean. Whatever works for you.

 

[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.

 

[DobieLover]

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?

Please post pictures of your setup.

As the others have mentioned, grass does not last long in an area of high population density and/or less than ideal growing conditions with the stress of constantly scratching chickens.

You need to provide the flock with 15 sq ft of space in the run per bird. I personally like wood chips as they have a variety of sizes, drain well and are organic so they slowly decompose with the poop load. I never clean my run.

In addition to good litter for the run, you should also provide areas of full shade and rain/snow protection, things to perch on like branches, old wood chair, pallets, whatever you have handy.

This is how mine is currently setup.

 

[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!!

 

[Ascholten]

I have a chicken tractor and what you describe sounds about par. It goes in phases.
You move it, in a week the grass is pretty torn up, in two weeks it's muddy, poopy, a lot of flies and probably not much grass left at all. it might even be smelling a bit too at this point. At about 4 weeks is when the magic stats though.

I put pine shavings in the 'inside' part of it as a poop grabber and nesting box material and roost floor. Inevitably they kick this out and all over when they root around, and when I pluck poo out in the morning. It gets kicked into the grassy (or what once was grassy).

about the 4 week mark you will notice that pine shavings have mixed fairly well into the 'dirt' now, and it's back to looking like dirt. The plants are all gone, the roots are pretty much tore up, in fact they may even have bowls carved out for dust baths in here. This little 'microcosym' has kind of balanced out now and is doing what nature intended. It's composting on it's own. Any new poop, quickly gets absorbed by the ground 'dirt' which has the consistancy of loose dirt now, the flies are gone, and the stink is miminal.

Keep it dry, in other words don't put your coop where this area is going to be subject to standing water if you get a good rain, and maybe every few weeks you can scrape some of the excess out, making sure to still leave ample loose stuff to handle new stuff and it'll run for months this way.,

at this point it's like a deep litter operation but yes, the first 3 to 4 weeks it can get a bit ugly. If the smell just gets too unbearable, you can throw some pine mulch on it to cover it up / tame it down until it gets going on it's own fully.

Aaron

Although I do not have to, it would take care of itself if I left it to be, I clean poop every morning. This gives me a chance to see how they are doing, and get a look and see if there are any potential problems brewing that I need to take care of. Besides the 5 gallon buckets of poop, add one or two of those to an IBC of compost,let it set a week and you have a tote full of magic dirt for growing just about anything you would ever want.

 

[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.