How to make a basic chicken run look nice?

[Dawnclucks22]

Hi everyone! It's occurred to me that I might want to make my run look nicer. It's fenced in, but the "run" part is really just the rest of my backyard. They have a small coop to lay and sleep in, and then like to scratch, dust bathe, and peck around in what more or less used to be my backyard. It's a good thing I love 'em, because darn I miss grass.
Anyway, is there anything we can to do spruce it up? The ground is pretty hard and is all dirt with some leaf piles here and there and there's dried poop all over the place. It try to rake occasionally but you know... chickens poop a lot! Any advice would be appreciated... I'd like to spend the least amount of money possible, if any.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Yes. Get rid of the birds. Oh wait, I'm supposed to be helpful! (Just kidding, I love my birds too).

We used to have a lovely backyard too. The first year, with just 4 chickens, the grass looked BETTER. They ran around aerating and fertilizing it. We should have stopped there, but then chicken math hit, and the chickens hit the yard.

I no longer have grass. I've got bare areas, moss, and compacted clay which turns to sticky mud in the winter.

For us, in our Oregon drizzle, the answer is bark dust. That helps eliminate the mud and dead looking areas.

We also fenced off a middle section so that we could have a square of lawn in the middle. We see some grass emerge in the spring, and the chickens hop the fence and eat it.

I'll watch what others have to say as I obviously have not found a solution yet. Chickens and landscaping (neat, pristine kind) don't seem to mix....at least not for me.

LofMc

 

[blackdog043]

You could put down natural wood chips. If you have any tree trimmers in your area you might get it free. This will serve two purposes, cover the dirt and give your chickens something to scratch through for insects.

 

[aart]

I have a large walk in run and never 'clean' poops from the run,
and there is rarely any nasty odors. The bedding of a good mix of dry plant materials use facilitates this nicely, it's basically no maintenance other than adding more material from time to time. I was able to start with a big load of tree trimmings from the power company that had been aged(6 months) so I avoided the toxic molds that can bloom with fresh chippings. I collect dry leaves in the fall (stored in feed bags in a shed) and add them occasionally, and other garden trimmings. I let my grass grow tall, mow and spread it out with discharge pattern, leave it to dry a few day, then push it into rows with the mower discharge, rake it up and add to run.

 

[21hens-incharge]

http://eartheasy.com/grow_raised_beds.htm

May I suggest raised beds with mulch paths?

Making hoops out of PVC and bird netting will keep your plantings safe from the chickens.

Draw it out on graph paper so you go in with a plan. Be creative with shapes too.

If you add a couple trees making a wire skirt around the bases will keep them from digging those up too.

They would enjoy digging in the mulch and you could grow things for them and yourself to enjoy.

Pretty much anything you plant will need protection from them.