Maintenance of the run question

[capebird]

I recently put my 5 girls out into their run and coop for good. They are about a month old.
The run is 8x 12 and is covered with grass. After about 4 days being in the run the ground is
getting a bit "used" and getting covered with poop. After the grass disappears from wear and tear
I'll probably cover it with sand.... but until then.... any suggestions how to "freshen" it up a bit....
keeping in mind the grass is still covering the ground of the run and about 4 inches high (although getting tramped
down a bit).
Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[Erica]

I just chuck in some straw, grass clippings, leaf mulch, pine litter, anything lying around when it starts to look a bit moonscapey. The birds are even happy if I throw in great piles of unsorted weeds.

 

[capebird]

thanks for the reply.
So just kind of cover up the run with fresh stuff.... bury the undesirables?

 

[savingpurple]

I use a rake and rake out the poo. Havent't put much in to replace the grass, as I am using removable window boxes to grow stuff in, and use a suet basket hung with many good veges They peck at that all day. Funny, I have to hide the suet basket as I walk out to the run, or I can't get in ! LOL

 

[Theapplechicks]

Quote:
glad I saw this. we just bought a dog run to use for our gals and was gonna put sand down when the ground got to bad but wondered about some greens. love the window box and suit basket ideas!

 

[pontoosuc]

I rake up the stones and sticks, leftover watermelon rinds etc. and throw away, then rake up some leaf debris from the woods and toss it in.

They absolutely love the leaf debris. On top of that I will toss in their boss and some white millet to keep them busy for the day.
Also any leftovers, or I'll cut up a cabbage, pull weeds from the garden etc.

 

[dbaird]

We rake up the poo daily, add pine shavings (which they love for some inexplicable reason) and add diatomaceous earth. Seems to work well.

 

[crazymama4]

We have 8 new hens, in a great coop/run that my husband built...only problem is, its in a very sandy area....what little grass there was was scratched up by the chickens. How can I get grass to grow there, or is it even necessary to have grass growing there? We have been throwing weeds and grass clippings in until we figure out what to do. Any ideas?

 

[KDK1]

Quote:
Not necessary nor is it possible... unless you cover it with wire so they can't scratch up the roots.

 

[WestfarthingHomestead]

I'm going to build at least two runs and alternate them. When one run gets trumpled and pooed, the chickies will go out the other pophole into the other run. The run not being used will be raked and have alfalfa seeds or some other fast-growing goodies thrown into it.