gravel on the run floor

[orchard endeavors]

Hello.... new to chickens.... we're at 4 (1 Orphington and 3 Brahmas)

We live on an orchard property and flood irrigate twice a month in the summer. The coop is off the ground and there is plenty of roosting spots for our girls.... but the run gets wet (flooded)... it soaks in very quickly but were getting flies and mud.

I'm thinking a gravel run floor.... mixed with some sand.... any thoughts or advice on gravel run floors?

THANK YOU Chicken Gurus....

 

[backdoorchicken]

i am not sure but it seems that maybe stone(rounded) would be better than gravel(sharp) in my opinion.

 

[harewizard]

Quote:
My thoughts are no and here's why:

1) Gravel is sharp and hard on their feet. It's an easy way to get abrasions and cuts, which can lead to bumble foot or other problems.
2) Where will the chicken 'caca' (poo) go? I picture it sitting on top of the gravel and not breaking down readily. Also, how do you propose cleaning the run?
3) Not sure where your located: Gravel may get hot in the summer months.
4) Dust baths?

Maybe my idea and your idea of how much gravel are different? Have you thought about an all sand run? It would be life at the beach!

Lisa

 

[backdoorchicken]

oh yeah i forgot about the cleaning factor. that would be a pain in the rump.

 

[3KillerBs]

Can you make a berm around the run with a drainage ditch on the outside to divert the water away from the chickens?

In addition to the problems of chicken in the muck, having the poop run off with the water into any streams, ponds, etc. that it may reach isn't sanitary.

 

[Danceswithchicks]

Keep it all dirt. Chickens love to scratch around in dirt. Poo is easily broken down and the others are right that the chickens could get hurt on gravel. Also

 

[patandchickens]

People use gravel all the time and it works fine. Obviously you don't want to pick a very sharp/large type of gravel, just use common sense.

Personally I like the dirt/sand/gravel mix they sell for making road foundations and dirt roads, it's about the cheapest aggregate you can buy, will probably be called "roadbase" or "'A' gravel" or something like that, call your closest aggregates place or gravelpit/sandpit and talk with them. But there are many other perfectly good possibilities, ranging from coarse sand to pea-gravel to a cheap sand/gravel mix etc etc etc.

Poo just sort of disintegrates. If you have a lot of chickens in not very much space you may sometimes want to separate out the bigger accumulations with a rake, to clean the run, but mainly the poo just sort of dries-up/crumbles/washes-through.

And a sand, gravel, or mixed run will drain real well from periodic flooding. It does sound to me like the way to go for your situation.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[orchard endeavors]

Thanks to all who posted......