Question about run: what do you put on the ground?

[precipice]

I have a chicken coop and an attached run set up. The chicken coop has a dropping area with wood shavings under it. I'm wondering, though, what to do about the run. Do people put wood shavings in there, too? (Right now the run ground area has a bunch of little rocks in it, but I was planning to move those out.)

Thanks!

 

[ella]

I have pea gravel- small smooth stones. I put it in last summer and it's working really well.

I'm sure there are many options out there, just have to find which is right for you.

Only real advice I have is avoid anything that will get moldy.

 

[Dawn419]

We'll eventually get in a load of sand to add to our runs as we are "blessed" with red clay here and it leaves alot to be desired as far as drainage is concerned.

Dawn

 

[Acre of Blessings]

My husband and I go to our local lumber company and we get pine shaving, ours aren't big enough for outside yet, but we have discussed to keep using the shavings witch will make an easy cleanup and also keep the mud down (we also have red clay).

i like the idea about the sand but that could be expensive (I guess). But a word of advice....stay away from straw of you don't know why I say that go to http://backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=21291
Its a bit graphic but this is why we agreed not to use straw at all.

 

[Chirpy]

I do think it depends on the type of ground you have whether you want to put anything down or not.

As mentioned, if you have drainage issues you probably want pea gravel or sand or such.

Here, I don't use anything. It's just dirt (used to be grass but we all know how long that lasts in a chicken run!) and I've made sure there aren't any low areas that can accumulate standing water.

 

[RoostersCrow]

Quote:
There is a huge difference in straw and hay. I switch to straw for litter when my birds are about 6 months old. Never had a problem. They do not even try to eat it.

 

[CoyoteMagic]

I never had anything in the run until the day we gave them a rotted bale of straw to play with. We are on hard packed clay (more like rock than clay after the drought) as they scratch and dig through it and mix in other "things" it's really begun to break up the clay. I may be moving the chickens to the another area next year so I can garden where they are this year!!!

 

[precipice]

Thanks so much for all the advice.