How to keep ground maintenance in a chicken run

[Birdlover 13]

Hi, I'm new to BYC and I plan on building a chicken run in my backyard (rather like chunnel just larger).I was just wandering on how to keep ground maintenance. Do I have to put straw or sand down or anything else? Thanks

 

[Dreysander]

I put topsoil and gravel in the run, then every now and then I throw dry leaves in it. We are surrounded by woods so we have a surplus of dry leaves. The whole run is covered and doesn't ever get wet inside. The chickens break up the leaves and spread them around so it's like mulch.

 

[Birdlover 13]

So will everything just biodegrade? I plan on keeping 3 chickens and won't anything start to smell?

 

[Dreysander]

So far nothing stinks in my run, I have 7 chickens and they've been out there for a couple of months. Seems like it all just biodegrades. I know some people that throw the old coop bedding out in the run, I don't. I put the old coop bedding in a compost pile.

 

[RonP]

Start by doing a search on "deep litter"

Lots of info...