I need all the ground cover options for my run

[sbutler12025]

Hey all! I have finished my coop, just finished my run. My 11-12 week olds have now been out in their coop for a week and are super happy! It's time to get them out into their run as well. I need to hear from all of you experienced chicken keepers what your favorite, most affordable ground cover for the run is?

I've heard:
Sand
Gravel
Wood chips
Deep litter method
Top soil
Concrete
Mixture of sand and stone

Here's my dilemma! I really like the idea of sand or a sand/stone mixture. But for the size of my run the cheapest delivery I can find will run me at least $400. I don't have that right now. I put the majority of my funds into safety for the coop and the run and it has left me a bit short. So now I'm looking into the most creative ways people have found to get cheap sand/stone for their run.

My mom suggested taking sand out of the local sand pits. I told her I don't think that's legal nevermind the fact that I'd have to take a ton of trips back and forth with my minivan just to get the sand home.

My coworker suggested topsoil. This would certainly be cheaper but wouldn't it get nasty/muddy? My run will be covered with a tarp that I can fold back on sunny days for them to sun bathe and to dry damp areas but I still worry the rain will blow in the sides and make soil a mushy stinky mess.

My friend suggested concrete. I don't know a thing about that but it seems like not only would it be expensive but that would be zero fun for my babies. Rough on their feet, no dust bathing, no digging I don't like that idea..

Gravel alone I think would be too rough.

Wood chips/ wood shavings I feel would hold on to moisture and get nasty/stinky after a bit.

So I'm still down to wanting a mixture of sand and small stone. I feel that would be easier to clean, provide decent drainage and allow for dust bathing and digging.

So again, what are creative ways you've found to aquire your sand / sand stone mixture without having to sell a kidney? What are safe types of sand? Safe types of stone?

Thank you all! I apologize for rambling and the length of this post

 

[NatJ]

What is in the run already?

It often works to leave the native soil/plants there, and let the chickens scratch in the soil and kill the plants. Then start adding other material.

Many people have good results by putting in quite a bit of wood chips, and also adding any other compostable materials they have readily available. It ends up sort of like a spread-out compost pile, and the chickens scratch and rearrange it and eat bits. (Can include vegetable & fruit peels, weeds pulled from the garden, shredded junk mail, hay or straw, bedding you clean out of the coop, and many other things-- avoid anything really toxic, but chickens are pretty good at knowing which things are safe to eat when they have a choice, so no need to worry about each tiny bit of stuff.)

In most cases, the lowest layers will slowly decompose while the upper layers stay fairly dry. People sometimes compare it to the floor of the forest: leaves and sticks and other things fall each year, and they pile up from the top while rotting away underneath and never get stinky.

If it is in a low place where water puddles, it may stay wet enough to smell bad. But if you start from ground level and pile things up, it will stay dry enough to be fine in most climates.

 

[Krugerrand]

Here's what I got free (self service) from the local municipality.

Dollar bill not included, but shown for size comparison.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Your location, climate, drainage in run area, overall run size and set up is all important.

My bedding is 100% free as it's sourced completely from my yard - chipped branches, grass clippings, dried leave, garden trimmings. We get a lot of rain but I have excellent drainage at the run site, so the deep litter using the natural resources available helps control mud and odor.

 

[AppleMomma65]

Lots of options! My run is attached to my coop and they both sit on a frame that has hardware cloth underneath (so predators can't dig up through it). This all sits on a section of yard that was/is dirt. Both are covered but some rain can get in if it's really hard. I'd suggest grass/yard clippings (from your mower), leaves, wood shavings, pine needles, and/or dirt. They love to scratch in it all so anything that they can do that with, they are happy.

 

[21hens-incharge]

What is in the run already?

It often works to leave the native soil/plants there, and let the chickens scratch in the soil and kill the plants. Then start adding other material.

Many people have good results by putting in quite a bit of wood chips, and also adding any other compostable materials they have readily available. It ends up sort of like a spread-out compost pile, and the chickens scratch and rearrange it and eat bits. (Can include vegetable & fruit peels, weeds pulled from the garden, shredded junk mail, hay or straw, bedding you clean out of the coop, and many other things-- avoid anything really toxic, but chickens are pretty good at knowing which things are safe to eat when they have a choice, so no need to worry about each tiny bit of stuff.)

In most cases, the lowest layers will slowly decompose while the upper layers stay fairly dry. People sometimes compare it to the floor of the forest: leaves and sticks and other things fall each year, and they pile up from the top while rotting away underneath and never get stinky.

If it is in a low place where water puddles, it may stay wet enough to smell bad. But if you start from ground level and pile things up, it will stay dry enough to be fine in most climates.

This is what I do....lots of organic material, wood, leaves, grass clippings, weeds from the garden and no smell or flies.

 

[Sally PB]

Here's what I've read.

Sand works well in some climates and situations, poorly in others. Concrete is VERY hard on the chickens' feet and legs. (Try standing on concrete all day, jumping up and down on it, walking on it. In your bare feet.) Gravel is also hard on their feet, poop sifts down into it and STINKS. Those are three things that I would not use in my situation.

I started out with grass (lawn), which was scratched bare in a week or less. I added pieces of bark and piles of dry fallen leaves. They loved scratching through that. I toss in garden weeds for them to peck at, and will be adding wood chips as I can.

A nice, deep bedding of dirt, chips, and leaves has a lot to recommend itself. It's soft on their feet; it absorbs the poop, and thus the smell; it gives them something to scratch in, so it's also entertainment. They will turn it into some of the best compost you could ever want, so it's a boon for gardeners.

A roof of some kind will help keep it from turning into a muddy mess. Drainage is a concern in runs too.

Please do your best to get any foreign objects out of there. More than one chicken has died from "hardware" disease by ingesting pieces of metal or glass.

 

[NatJ]

I can't have them on the existing ground, from the previous owners there are insane amounts of glass, screws and the odd plastic shard here and there buried in the soil. I removed about a foot off the top of my entire back yard in that area but even after removing the worst of it I am still finding bits of stuff here and there after it rains. Amazing how far down trash can go!

In that case, I agree with @aart that you should add some fill dirt to cover what is there, and then you can use various kinds of bedding.

Chickens do scratch and dig, but they do it more in soft dirt than in hard dirt, so you might want to add the fill dirt in several layers and trample down each layer (or otherwise compact it somehow) to make it less attractive to the chickens.

Concrete is VERY hard on the chickens' feet and legs. (Try standing on concrete all day, jumping up and down on it, walking on it. In your bare feet.)

In this particular case, considering the trash in the ground, it might be reasonable to pour concrete and then put dirt and/or bedding over the top. Then the chickens would not really be on the concrete, but it would limit how far they can dig.

Concrete might cause drainage problems, unless it is sloped so water can run away downhill, so definitely think about drainage before doing it.

A nice, deep bedding of dirt, chips, and leaves has a lot to recommend itself. It's soft on their feet; it absorbs the poop, and thus the smell; it gives them something to scratch in, so it's also entertainment. They will turn it into some of the best compost you could ever want, so it's a boon for gardeners.

I wholeheartedly agree with this!

I am between the method you described above and sand.

I've read that sand works well in dry climates, when someone is willing to sift out the droppings quite frequently (often daily, sometimes more or less often.) It's rather like a giant cat litter box.

People who try sand in wet climates usually start to complain that it stinks, no matter how often they sift out the droppings.

People who are not willing to sift out droppings do not like sand.

I have never personally used sand, because I am not willing to sift droppings on a regular basis, and because I have never lived in a dry enough climate. I have always used what was available to me: dead leaves in fall, weeds in summer, kitchen waste all year, sometimes wood chips, and so on.

 

[aart]

I do like that idea! I can't have them on the existing ground, from the previous owners there are insane amounts of glass, screws and the odd plastic shard here and there buried in the soil. I removed about a foot off the top of my entire back yard in that area but even after removing the worst of it I am still finding bits of stuff here and there after it rains. Amazing how far down trash can go!
I am between the method you described above and sand. Whatever I do I have to figure it out asap.

Add a foot of clean fill dirt....then add run bedding.

I like coarse wood chippings in the run.

 

[Danosaur]

I’ve only been doing this chicken thing for a year but I’ve been very happy with my wood chipped run. After the chickens cleared out all the grass I put down a few bags of coarse mulch (each bag is only about $3). I’ve thrown in a few more bags twice since then. I also rake in dead leaves in the fall and winter and put grass clippings from the lawn in summer. The girls get our kitchen scraps and weeds and they love it. Anything they don’t eat will decompose eventually. They seem to have plenty to scratch around in.

I have sand in my coop and when we clean it out we just dump the poop into the run. I live in Utah so it is pretty dry here and the wood chips do a great job of absorbing the poop and it doesn’t stink at all. When it rains or the snow melts it doesn’t really get muddy because there are enough wood chips that everything drains well. It does get dusty when it hasn’t had moisture for a while, but I can just hose it down a bit if it’s bothering me.

I honestly can’t imagine a better setup! The wood chips/mulch are cheap, lightweight (sand is sooo heavy), absorbent, and compostable.