Grass-less Dirty Chicken Run

[Granitestater]

You should buy store bought eggs,, that's what chickens do they destroy your yard and have a nasty smell

But they don't have a nasty smell!

 

[Granitestater]

Do chickens eat mint? Mine thankfully have not really messed with mine.
Or... have they just not really discovered yet I am wondering now???
Oh man, I hope they don't, really don't need to deal with that plant too on my gotta watch it like a hawk list .

They do not eat our mint here in NH. Must not like it cuz they aren't shy bout nibbling what they like.

 

[Granitestater]

Yes there may be behavior problems and stress. "Tolerating confinement" or keeping chickens in one of those cute little coops without outside time IMO is not much better than those chicken production buildings where they claim "cage free" but the chickens are crowded into this big area without cages. Those chickens also have issues and most require cutting their upper beak really short so they can't pick on eachother.

I would say that if your chickens free range frequently, they can have a smaller coop and pen. Mine free range most days in my backyard and my pen is 16x16 for 15 chickens. The coop is fairly large. My pen is built like Fort Knox, so they live most of the year with the coop door open. In the really cold weather they are in the coop Or in the coop with a heater (because I can) that keeps the 3 water buckets unfrozen, about 30 degrees.

When I lived in Florida, my chickens did not have a coop, just a covered pen and a rubbermaid tub on it's side for laying eggs. It was in the shade all day. I did nothing in the winter.

What I'm saying is you have to think of the chickens' situation, if there out more frequently then their coop and pen can be smaller. Use your judgement and if you read what others do, use that as reference NOT gospel. And remember they are animals. If they get dirty feet well they will. I have silkies with dirty feet! If I hold them I also own a washing machine. I snip their butt feathers, worm them, give them veggies and treats, and physically handle each one weekly to check their weight. And I love them all !

One of the most interesting tips I have is if you get mulch, buy a color that's close to the color of chicken poop.

Very sensible and logical advice! "And I love them all".

 

[raingarden]

If it smells then it is damp. You want the poop to dry and decompose as soon as possible instead of releasing ammonia gas and feeding fly larvae. The usual remedy is to add mulch, bedding, sand or soil. The immediate challenge is to find a cheap source of mulch/sand/soil. The thicker the layer the better it will work so a couple of bags of something from Home Despot won't do much. Wood chips from the tree trimmers or raked leaves are popular options. Increasing space or decreasing bird density helps too.

 

[Ashley & Donna Dame]

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?

If you can get bags of sand and add it yo the run. Lots of sand. If your run is covered you can add DE to the sand and it'll help not only with mites and luce but it'll also help keep moisture under control. I add DE to our run and inside the coop every couple months and it's been awesome.

 

[Clucktown]

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?I

 

[Clucktown]

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?

I started using organic peat moss after my hens destroyed the grass in their run. The girls love it because it is soft and fluffy for dust bathing in!

 

[raingarden]

It's really embarrassing to have people come and see the chickens since it looks so gross, and stinks, too.

We always have a bale of cedar wood shavings on standby for when company's coming. Sprinkle some around and it soaks up moisture and smell and makes everything look great...... for an hour or so. Unfortunately, it's too expensive for everyday use.

 

[Icie]

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?

Hi there!
First off, forget about having grass with chickens IF they spend more time on it than off. However, tossing cover crop or forage seed and keeping them off of it for a few weeks, will have it back and lush in no time. While you're at it, build yourself one of those hardware cloth boxes, grow seed in it, and when it come up they can only peck at the grass that grows thru (I can't think of the name of it, but it's like a raised bed for chickens but with a hardware cloth top! Made with 2 x 4s)
Secondly, I swear by my sand floor in my coop and run. I've tried all the rest and this is by far the best for maintenance, odors, and no bugs! There's a rake that looks like a big cat litter scoop and you can use that to get up poop. It doesn't hold moisture so spills, leaks, rain, etc are no issue. I can still use the poop in my compost and no longer have to repeatedly buy litter, bedding, or shavings, or even grit, and they can easily dust bathe....find a sand quarry and buy construction grade sand for about $25 a load and never worry about it again, unless you just want to top it off each spring to freshen up the color. Plus there's lots of other used for sand if you have left overs.
IF you wanna keep using bedding you can add some of the bedding used for horse stalls. It's pelleted like alfalfa but absorbs moisture so it alleviates moisture problems well.

 

[seminolewind]

Right now since I don't have too many yummy things close to being ripe, the chickens free range all day. The coop basically is just somewhere they go at night to sleep. Even when I do cage them up on certain conditions, they get let out for an hour or so at the end of the day when im watering / checking everything. I find that when I let them dig around where I buried that plutonium at, the eggs come out all nice and pretty colors and are much easier to see at night

Seriously though ON that, that's one thing you do have to be careful on when you let them free range. If you were working on a car, or a mower, or getting ready to spray or whatever... they are NOT smart enough to stay out of stuff they don't need to be in, so you would have to make sure, no oil pans, no bottles of bug be gone etc etc where they can potentially get at.

Another PLUS side to it tho is, my soil is horrible. THey dug up and sold all the good stuff (typical greedy sob pos smf contractors / home builders) and the full of shells / lime rock and garbage soil they dug out to create the retention pond, they spread THAT around, put half an inch if that of 'black stuff' on top of it and threw sod down. THAT is your soil Sandy rocky silty crap. Im constantly pulling rocks out as over the years it slowly gets better to grow in. By occasionally throwing down a handfull of seed where they like to root and dust bathe, they'll dig the crap out of that to get the seeds and dig up a lot of rocks, which are now on the surface so a quick drag of the rake and I got them all out.

THIS was also one of my Einstonian ideas early on too, heyyyyyyyyy... move the coop around the yard and let the chickens dig up all the rocks. Sounds good on paper right??

aaron

I've lived in Florida 14 years and with chickens, My only way of solving this for me was topsoil and Bahia grass for the front and sprinklers. Bahia is actually pasture grass kept short. Not high needs for water and fertilizer. In the back I had to grow grass where I wanted it like squares of various sizes near the house and use deer fencing to prevent them chickens from coming in. The squares had tons of aged horse manure mixed in . I also had squares of garden stuff, the vegetables never did well for me because they wanted more water that I was willing to do.