Keeping the run clean?

[igorsMistress]

Where in AZ? If you're not in the high country I wouldn't use sand. Your run gets sun most of the day and sand will be far too hot for your birds to walk on. Try a thin layer of straw or hay, just enough to cover the poop, say half and inch. Encourage your flock to stir it by tossing scratch into the run and add just a little hay to it when needed. Also, wet it down a little bit, just a misting, and stir yourself once a week. It takes a couple of minutes but the poop breaks down nicely along with the hay. I prefer hay to straw.

Fly traps, the ones you add water to, hang for a while and throw away when done. Walmart, TSC, Home Depot, etc all carry them.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Surprisingly, the coop smells pretty good. It’s the outside I’m worried about.

Well deep litter is definitely more suited to runs than most coops, as ground contact plus some moisture is ideal to get the composting action going. It's the composting that helps break down poops and eat up odors.

 

[Fishychix]

Ooohh, I have it backwards then. Looks like I will have to work on that. What do I do in the coop then?

 

[rosemarythyme]

Ooohh, I have it backwards then. Looks like I will have to work on that. What do I do in the coop then?

What's currently in the coop? If you're not having any noticeable smell issues, whatever's in there seems to be working fine. If things change, then you can consider changing up what you're doing inside.

 

[amk122284]

I do kind of a compost in the run, wood chips, leaves, pine shavings from the coop when I scoop it. I go in and rake it good every couple of weeks and you'd never know I kept chickens in there honestly.

 

[Fillymj]

My run is 14’ x 26’. 7 chickens. Once a week rake run then use shop vacuum. Has been working although I don’t have many chickens for the space.