Run Floor

[BDutch]

Concrete is stronger and won't rust in a few years like hardware cloth does. The OP mentioned concrete and if there's a budget for it I say go for it.

A late reaction to this post. I made a pathway with 30x30 cm (1sqft) paving stones alongside the run. Easy to pick up and reuse when I have other plans in the future.
The standard ones are not expensive and often offered secondhand.

 

[BDutch]

Fine playground (silica) sand and diatomaceous earth are not suitable for chickens as they have very delicate respiratory systems. Appropriate chicken dust bath substrates are coarse sand, plain top soil/dirt, peat moss, or a mix of these. No need to add any pesticides to the mix.

Any experience with this or just repeating what other people say?

Mine get a mix of our soil (loam with sand and organic materials ) , playground sand (not very fine at all) and a few spoons of DE in their sandbath area.I do this for 10 years now. Chickens never had any problems with breathing. My oldest chickens are almost 11 and 12 yo.

 

[BDutch]

They really, really love to scratch and dig, deep holes, and that is why they recommend NOT putting hardware cloth under the dirt, no matter how deep. They could hurt their feet and get bumble foot.

Yes + the hwc in the ground gets rusty, breaks down within a number of years. Imagine what happens if the chickens dig up pieces of rusty metal?