Run advice for newbie

[pathwandering]

Hi,
This is my second advice-seeking post of the day. Apologies if this question has been answered before - I rely on my cell data for internet, so I have a limited amount I can spend reading past messages.
I have an Eglu cube with a small attached run, and bought 50 feet of heavy duty vinyl coated galvanized wire fencing. There are a few things I'm not sure about. Where I live is in the woods - no doubt full of predators. I wanted to use the fencing to give them an area they could be safely during the day. But the ground is pretty much clay with no grass or ground cover. (New construction). I can see it getting very muddy, and very gross, impossible to clean etc.
I had planned on using pine shavings in the run that's attached to the cube, but I don't think I can afford to use shavings in the rest of the fenced in area. I like the idea of having a moveable fence too, but worry that if I make it moveable it won't hold up to a predator attack.
Do people shovel poop daily out of larger areas anyway? Not sure how dense to expect it to get. And I'm guessing I really need to come up with a solution to the clay ground.
What are people's thoughts on moveable v. fixed? Best way to make it moveable but still strong? I'm worried that if I leave it fixed, the ground will just get really gross, and it's only 10 feet from my house.
Thanks for any advice you can give!

 

[Judy]

I would see if I could find organic matter to put in there, rather thickly if possible. Dried leaves from last fall are ideal I don't think pine shavings would do well as they don't dry out that fast after a rain. Wood ashes would be good. Some grass trimmings are fine. You could even use some shredded paper.

 

[srpchickens]

I use straw. My runs are 12 x 30 and 8 x 40. I use about a half of a bale (4x2 bales from the garden store)a week. I spread it, when they use the bathroom it sticks to the straw. I rake it up and compost it once a week. Some of it will sprout too, giving you some green shoots. It will also attract bugs and worms (especially after a rain). Some of the wasted scratch grains get in it and get covered up, and they sprout too.

I've heard people say not to use straw because it attracts mice....yeah, we had a few of those...the chickens ate them too.

And when I add the poo covered straw to my compost pile, it gets the heat cranking in there!

 

[yyz0yyz0]

I also use straw in my run, 12x12 run with 8 birds and I put about a 1/4 of a bale in there once a week then rake it out before refreshing it. One thing, if you have drainage issues straw may not solve them, my run is a slight downhill so I don't have drainage issues with it. Instead every couple days I gotta rake the straw back "uphill" to spread it back out.

Tip for straw users, this fall/Holloween season keep your eyes open for places using straw as a decoration. After holloween I was able to score 26bales of free straw by asking at a restaurant, pumpkin patch and nursing home what they were going to do with their straw decorations. They were all glad to have someone haul it away free for them. I will be checking out the same places this fall, the only problem is I now have piles of straw that I have to keep covered if I don't want it to get all moldy.

I also used the bales as a windbreak around the base of the coop over the winter to give the girls a place out of the weather.

 

[pathwandering]

Thanks - I'm just a little concerned that straw will be too expensive unless I can find a cheaper source. It's $13/bale at the local feed store or Agway. !! I'm thinking I can probably get some sand, though. Here's a picture of where I have the cube. I plan on putting a square run that is connected to the front of the run attached to the cube. When I was at the store, the person told me she uses trellis netting on top of her larger run to keep hens in and wild birds out. It's certainly an affordable option, but are there any hazards?
On another note, I plan on putting hardware cloth around the bottom of the cube - I can see that maybe in flat English backyards this works fine, but as you can see in my pic, this is just not safe. I'm tempted to bury the fox guard - it just doesn't seem like it would stop much even if it laid perfectly flat as something could burrow under it pretty quickly. However, I have TONS of rocks available and I could just surround the run with those. How strong are raccoons, though - could they just move the rocks?

 

[srpchickens]

wow..that's crazy pricing for straw. I pay 5.99 a bale.

as for the tops of my pens, I use black plastic bird netting. I put pieces of conduit in the ground at then ends and middle of the run and connect them with a piece 6-7 feet off of the ground right down the middle of the run (think tent frame). Then I zip tie the bird netting to the fence on one side, toss it over the conduit and zip tie it to the fencing on the other side. You cant see the netting from 50-60 feet away, but it prevents my birds from flying out and hawks from getting in.

Conduit and bird netting is relatively inexpensive at Home depot, and you can make a big run relatively quickly.

 

[heartsizedfarm]

You could also use cinder block around the base of your run. I've yet to see a raccoon heft one of those! Bonus, you could set them hole side up, fill with soil and plant herbs or veg there for the chooks.

 

[heartsizedfarm]

Re chicken manure. I use a combo of straw and pine shavings, pick out the obvious stuff everyday. But chicken droppings break down pretty quickly and chickens being scratchers help break it down too.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Read this about fixing muddy runs. The best time to fix it is when you first build it. A lot of this applies to coops built on the ground too.

Pat’s Big Ol' Mud Page (fixing muddy runs):
https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=1642-fix-a-muddy-run

If it is dry it won’t smell unless you have a lot of chickens for the size of the run. Chicken density does matter. If it is wet, it doesn’t matter what the ground cover is, straw, shavings, wood chips, sand, or just plain dirt. Your key is wet, not what you put on it. That close to your house especially, you want it dry. You are right to be concerned.

There are two general ways to help keep it dry. First, keep water out to start with. Don’t put it in a low spot where water runs to. Use berms or swales to divert rainwater runoff. Slope roofs or use gutters to get water away from the run. Put a roof on it, sloped not flat. A flat roof will leak. A lot of rain and snow will blow in from the side. You might want something on the normal upwind side to help keep rain out.

Second, allow the run to dry out if it does get wet. If the weather sets in wet it can be really hard to keep a run totally dry. Rain just has a way of getting in. But build up your run so it is higher than the area around it. Give the water a place to go. If you build your run in a low spot, water is going to set there. If your soil is clay, that will hold water. Chickens will dig holes in it to dust bathe and those will become mud puddles. If you dig out clay and fill that hole with sand, you may have just created a swimming pool if that clay holds water. Your run floor needs to be higher than the surrounding area so the water has a place to go.

Sand drains really well. That’s why it is recommended a lot on here. If your run floor is higher than the surrounding area and made of sand, it works great. However, there are a couple of problems with sand if it is on clay. Over time the sand disappears. It’s denser than clay so gravity causes it to sink into the clay. Also chickens scratch a lot. They will speed that sinking process up by scratching, plus they can scratch a lot of sand out of the run. Pat talks about putting a bed of rock down first in her article. Also, if you put a solid barrier around your run, that can help keep the sand inside. At some point, you’ll probably have to add more sand, but that might be years if you set it up right. You may find it cheaper and easier to just add sand in the future than go through this now, or try it and see if you want a barrier. That barrier needs to allow water to drain out.

While you want to keep rain out, lots of ventilation will help it dry out if it gets wet. A French drain may come in handy getting water away from that area.

As you can see, many people are quite happy using something other than sand. Whether that will work for you will depend on your local conditions and climate, plus how you maintain it. I’m not trying to say you have to do it one specific way. I want you to think of how to keep water out and how to dry the run out if it gets wet.

Good luck!

 

[draines]

I like the cinder block idea....consider it stolen!