Run construction and maintenance

[Skunkie]

New to chicken keeping here. We are getting our coop ready for our 7 chicks and plan to get them moved in pretty soon. I was wondering if the deep litter method would be a good idea for the run. Our run is on dirt which is very sandy and loose. Also it is on a hillside so is terraced into three levels. It is in an area well shaded by large oaks and it has a corrugated roof of clear polycarbonate with UV protection. We are in coastal central California with mild temperatures and very, very little rain. We get a lot of coastal fog, sometimes it is drippy and other times dry.

I don’t have a current photo of the run with the roof and hardware cloth sides but I am attaching a photo of the run under construction to show the terraced dirt floor. It is 7.5’ x 12’. Would deep litter work here? And how is it done? I’ve searched a bit here on the forums but all I find is threads that turn into discussions on deep bedding with no description of how to do deep litter. (I do plan on deep bedding inside the hen house).

I know I’ll have more run and coop questions as we finish out this build. We purchased an OverEZ coop and are building the run with wood we’ve had laying around. We are working on improving the meager ventilation in the coop, you can see the cut away section above the pop door. I’m going to put hardware cloth over the windows and leave them open all the time. We’ve also added other ventilation holes that are not visible in these photos. I’ll add more photos in the next couple of days as I come up with more questions .

 

[saysfaa]

Post #79 by patandchickens https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/run-construction-and-maintenance.1479510/

Post #174 by darkmatter and the discussion about green and brown lower on the same page and bottom of the next page
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/deep-litter-method.70/page-18

Post #247 by WoodlandWoman and Post250 by darkmatter https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/deep-litter-method.70/page-25

Two pages later someone asks about what exactly the deep litter method is and on the next page that is answered, both what became called "deep bedding" on this forum and then as what remained called "deep litter"

I'm out of time for now. But an advanced search for "deep litter" by BeeKissed dater older than March 2017 will get a lot more info on the active composting type.

This isn't the thread I tried to find this morning; there is a better one that I might to look for again later.

 

[aart]

Nice terracing!
Not sure any of them are deep enough to do deep anything.
Looks like you've got about maybe 6" above the dirt fill?
Not sure what would be the best bedding for your run.
I think something drier than a truly composting deep litter(which take as fair amount of moisture to really break down) might be best, would probably preserve the wooden sides for longer.

 

[Boise-girls]

Beautiful construction!

 

[3KillerBs]

I agree with @aart, actively composting Deep Litter would eat the wooden boards that are holding your terraces (it ate the support structure on my Little Monitor Coop). Additionally, in a dry climate you'd have to add moisture to keep it going at all times.

But using thick layers of coarse wood chips and other dry organic material and letting the composting happen as it happens would probably work to keep down odor while preserving the wood structure as long as possible.

I'm putting my open-air coop on a slope and expect my bedding to migrate from the top to the bottom so I suspect that your bedding would be kicked from terrace to terrace. In my case I'm hoping to harvest compost from the bottom of the slope and add new bedding/litter at the top.

 

[Aunt Tat]

New to chicken keeping here. We are getting our coop ready for our 7 chicks and plan to get them moved in pretty soon. I was wondering if the deep litter method would be a good idea for the run. Our run is on dirt which is very sandy and loose. Also it is on a hillside so is terraced into three levels. It is in an area well shaded by large oaks and it has a corrugated roof of clear polycarbonate with UV protection. We are in coastal central California with mild temperatures and very, very little rain. We get a lot of coastal fog, sometimes it is drippy and other times dry.

I don’t have a current photo of the run with the roof and hardware cloth sides but I am attaching a photo of the run under construction to show the terraced dirt floor. It is 7.5’ x 12’. Would deep litter work here? And how is it done? I’ve searched a bit here on the forums but all I find is threads that turn into discussions on deep bedding with no description of how to do deep litter. (I do plan on deep bedding inside the hen house).

I know I’ll have more run and coop questions as we finish out this build. We purchased an OverEZ coop and are building the run with wood we’ve had laying around. We are working on improving the meager ventilation in the coop, you can see the cut away section above the pop door. I’m going to put hardware cloth over the windows and leave them open all the time. We’ve also added other ventilation holes that are not visible in these photos. I’ll add more photos in the next couple of days as I come up with more questions .



View attachment 2744190View attachment 2744192

That terraced run is going to keep those chickens' legs gorgeous and provide HOURS of fun!!!

G.E.N.I.U.S.!!!

 

[Skunkie]

We have a lot of dry oak wood chips and oak leaf litter that I could use in the run. Would that work? Also, I can remove some of the dirt in the terraces to help keep the organic material in place. I’m going to put some oak stumps and limbs in there for the girls to climb and play on too. We are pretty rural here, we have a lot of hawks and owls so I’m not sure they can free range much, if at all. We are going to try making a “day run” with chicken wire and bird netting or some type of top cover, just so they can have a little more room to run around some of the time. It would only be used when someone would be able to keep an eye on them.

 

[3KillerBs]

We have a lot of dry oak wood chips and oak leaf litter that I could use in the run. Would that work? Also, I can remove some of the dirt in the terraces to help keep the organic material in place. I’m going to put some oak stumps and limbs in there for the girls to climb and play on too. We are pretty rural here, we have a lot of hawks and owls so I’m not sure they can free range much, if at all. We are going to try making a “day run” with chicken wire and bird netting or some type of top cover, just so they can have a little more room to run around some of the time. It would only be used when someone would be able to keep an eye on them.

Yes, wood chips and leaves are as near-perfect a litter as you can get.

 

[Skunkie]

Nice terracing

Beautiful construction!

Thank you! That was mostly DH and not my work
Here is a photo from a little farther along, with the roof almost finished. We’ll be attaching the hardware cloth today . Around the base of the terraces I’m going to dig outward a bit and place a hardware cloth apron, cover it back over with dirt and then we’ll put rocks around the edges to help keep everything in place. I don’t want anything digging under to get in the run. Besides the hawks and owls, we have coyotes, raccoons, skunks and opossums. And we have herons that hunt the gophers but I don’t think they’ll bother the chickens. A couple of days ago one had a gopher and a hawk tried to steal it away! He gave up pretty quickly but it was interesting to watch.

 

[aart]

We have a lot of dry oak wood chips and oak leaf litter that I could use in the run. Would that work?

Yeppers!

What are the chips from?
This is what I use, run thru tree trimmers chipper:

Also, I can remove some of the dirt in the terraces to help keep the organic material in place. I’m going to put some oak stumps and limbs in there for the girls to climb and play on too.

Both good ideas!