Ground cover in run?

[teriz1091]

We recently bought our first house, & my dad graciously offered to build us a coop. We have a dog pen we are using as the run for it.

At our old house, the run was just dirt, we’d put in some grass clippings or leaves now & then for them to dig through. It was a wet, muddy/poopy mess when it rained.

I’d like to know if anyone uses a ground cover in their runs - sand, wood chips, something else? I’d like this run to stay nice & not become a mud pit every time it gets wet.

Also, a picture of our new coop! He did such a good job with it, most of it is made from free materials. There is a small storage area on one side, & the hens will have access under the coop for shade. I’m so excited for it to get finished so we can use it! It will house 4 hens.

(The dog house in the picture is only temporary until the coop is done)

 

[aart]

I’d like to know if anyone uses a ground cover in their runs - sand, wood chips, something else?

I use coarse wood chippings from a tree trimmer, works great.
But I have lots of space to store the big load they bring.

Are you going to move the run away from that fence, and cover that and the under coop with better predator proof mesh?

 

[RossAcres]

I use pea gravel in the run. Don't worry, they wont eat it. It's great for ducks too. All you have to do to maintain cleanliness is spray it down with a hose once or twice a week.

 

[bsshog40]

I use mulch in our run. They don't get a ton of rain being covered but the mulch sucks up what rain it gets. Then the sun dries it back up. I also throw in grass clippings when I mow once a week. We only have 4 chickens.

 

[paintedChix]

I use pea gravel in the run. Don't worry, they wont eat it. It's great for ducks too. All you have to do to maintain cleanliness is spray it down with a hose once or twice a week.

I can understand using peagravel, especially w/ ducks, but doubt her two neighbors will appreciate the scent/product they may end up with. If in an HOA neighborhood, may be even more frowned upon.

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Like AART & many others I use DLM. Unlike AART, I've not been able to get regular loads of woodchips. So I use a combo of materials.

I would start with raising your pen up on cinder blocks. Does 2 things. 1 - gets the bottom bar off the ground, reducing rust. 2 - it puts a "bottom" or depth to your pen. This allows you to build up your run with materials, w/o it immediately falling out into your yard.

If you pen was stinky @ previous house, was probably due to not enough depth of materials. Woodchips or other DLM materials are recommended to start out at 8-12" in depth. Then, those will start to break down, composting & digesting chicken poop, while also catching & holding water as it drains w/o creating a pond. As it breaks down, you add more materials - you can leave them piled in center & let your chickens spread ot out. If it gets stinky, add more materials, but do not leave piled. Spread it out to cover & disapate the stink. May take several inches.

Products usable for DLM. Wood chips, pine shavings - preferably a mix of both or several sizes, garden trimmings, weeds, pine straw, straw, hay, shredded paper (cardboard, paper, phonebooks, bills, envelopes w/ plastic windows), leaves, sawdust. All bedding cleaned out of coop & nest boxes. Edited to add - forgot about the horse stall products - palletized bedding & Sweet PDZ.

The main thing is different sizes of materials - this allows airflow throw the materials & air pockets to catch water. Prevents mud & stinkyness.

On hay & straw - they can mat down & become an anaerobic mess. To reduce that you can chop it. If you don't have a wood chipper, open out flakes on your lawn before mowing. Then when you mow, the mower chops it up. Then dump the 2 products into the run. The difference in materials will make it different sized, even though the mower may cut it same length.

Our DLM

 

[aart]

Like AART & many others I use DLM

I use coarse wood chippings from a tree trimmer,
but I don't pile it deep(only an inch or three) as it's not necessary.

 

[paintedChix]

I want to add - if you get a lot of rain, you may want to do some type of cover over the run. If you use a tarp, you'd want to curve the top for it to drain off more easily.

Hmm - Kansas. Do you get snow & if so, how much? When it rains - is it gentle & small amounts or deluge or large amounts all at once?

We have gotten 3.9" in last 4 days & it's pouring hard enough at the moment, I can't see the car parked 8' away. We seem to have also gotten more hail in the last few years then we used to (different areas of sandhills NC since 1997).

So when we do tarps, its over CP layered w/ chicken wire (our 1st 3 hoop coops) or 2x4" wire or 1/2" HWC. This works for us and there's very little to no pooling. Hail & wind as well as sun decimates less expensive tarps. Each year the less expensive tarps become more "cheaply" made.

There are other ways to cover a dog pen run. You could do water catching off roof to water your birds as well.

And I forgot to say - your coop is really cute!

 

[paintedChix]

I use coarse wood chippings from a tree trimmer,
but I don't pile it deep(only an inch or three) as it's not necessary.

And that shows how folks do things differently.

Things that affect DLM - drainage & soil under it, drainage & soil around run & Coop, amount of rain/snow, how much rain/snow at one time and w/I a season, humidity (we are hot & HUMID & stay pretty humid during winter as well).

On this property, we have sand - acres & acres of the stuff. Cleared parts of our property over the past 50 years were monocropped - using chemical fertilizers & pesticides. In our excessive rain & humidity, it stank enough to make us sick.

We moved in January 2015 & the 1st 2 years, didnt even mow due to more sand than grass - everywhere! Between hay bales not cleaned up, ponies, chickens in tractors, DLM from the original 3 hoop coops - the soil over the front yard, back yard, side yard & part of the 7 acre perimeter fenced pasture - it doesn't stink as much. In fact, since 2015, it's majorly changed.

The dogs still find areas to roll in the "stank"...