New backyard flock, is all this normal and do I need to change anything?

[IvanTsary]

Top is covered with chickens wire and now a camo cloth material. I may upgrade the sides, but that whole thing is disconnected from coop at night when coons would be out.

 

[IvanTsary]

I really need to level under the run, is mulch ok for chickens, or might there be some chemical or dye?

 

[cavemanrich]

Mulch is OK. Get the natural which does not contain dyes in it. Great to keep your chickens busy scratching thru it. It will also provide drainage to keep run mud free.
These days most garden things are made to be toxin free. None of the manufacturers or suppliers want to risk lawsuits brought about by bad products. We are referring to children playing upon things and getting sick. Chickens are more hardy then children.

 

[aart]

I really need to level under the run, is mulch ok for chickens, or might there be some chemical or dye?

What do you mean by 'level'?

Some bagged mulches are indeed dyed, and may have preservatives in them,
probably won't say so on the bag label tho. Whether they are harmful to chickens, I do not know.
Getting wood chips from a tree trimming business is pretty easy in most areas if you know who to ask.

 

[IvanTsary]

I cant dig a deep mulch bed here and the ground surface is sloped and uneven. I'm tring to make the ground more level so there are not the 1"-2" gaps between the bottom board of the run and the ground since the seem attracted to those to dig at. I found some supposedly undyed mulch.

 

[aart]

I cant dig a deep mulch bed here and the ground surface is sloped and uneven. I'm tring to make the ground more level so there are not the 1"-2" gaps between the bottom board of the run and the ground since the seem attracted to those to dig at. I found some supposedly undyed mulch.

Yeah, well, they will probably dig it right back out.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1086535/excavation-by-birds-a-word-of-warning

 

[IvanTsary]

Yeah, well, they will probably dig it right back out.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1086535/excavation-by-birds-a-word-of-warning

Yeah. I'm using some plywood right now, so might just use the mulch to level then put plywood on top. I just added a bun ch of leaf litter so that seems to be giving them an outlet for their scratching and digging.

 

[IvanTsary]

Well the wood for the new coop was delayed a day. I need it bad too, since my chickens love the run so much 2 of them squeezed their way through the 6 inch gap around some spare chicken wire to try to get into it while I was installing a 4' door on the end for us to more easily service the run. Thankfully they like the run and just wandered around the outside perimeter trying to figure out how they could get back in :cd , and the boss "Blue" was still inside so they wanted to huddle up with her. That door came in handy to corral them back in!