I'd suggest the deep litter method. Look it up- basically you try to create an environment in the run kind of like a forest floor. It turns the whole run into a shallow compost heap, which absorbs all the poo before it can burn anything, and turns out compost. I've seen pictures of people growing plants in deep litter runs, never mind near them, with only a cage over them to keep chickens from eating them. It minimizes smell, you get compost out of it, and it grows lots of beneficial bugs (worms and beetles and the like) for your chickens to eat. Plus, you might not ever need to clean it out! If they scratch it enough to turn it over for you, all you'll need to do is occasionally throw a heap of new materials in and let them spread it out. At most you'll have to stir things up a bit. And, a couple times a year or so, you can rake the top layer to the side and dig out a load of nice fresh compost.
So true! So digusting....
