Run Floor

[Anon112]

I made a HUGE mistake (and wasted a ton of time and money and materials) burying a floor---made of hardware cloth---under my run. No bueno.

The ground around my chicken run is very rocky and there are a ton of tree roots, making digging around it really hard. There's also a lot of water flow/drainage in my yard, so metal rusts quickly underground.

A surprisingly effective "natural" apron has been the raspberry bushes growing up along one side of the run. I never see any attempts at digging near them.

 

[debid]

We had some old chain link fencing that wasn't being used. I took a pair of bolt cutters and snipped 4' wide scrap fencing down the middle so it was 2' wide. Made enough to surround the run. Attached it with some galvanized fence wire and then threw dirt and rocks on top. Nothing is digging through it. I've seen evidence of NUMEROUS attempts. It's been almost 15 years and holding strong.

 

[debid]

I also do the assorted organic materials in the run for the chickens to scratch through and break down. A local tree trimming place gives us more wood chips than we can use plus we have lots of trees that drop leaves in the fall. I throw grass clippings in when available because they love them and those eventually do dry (the chickens spread them out and keep them from clumping). I periodically harvest soil from the run which helps keep the ground fresh even though the run is stationary.

 

[RoyalChick]

As others have said, don’t put anything under the run floor. Better to have a skirt on the outside.
A skirt doesn’t need to be deep - if you use hardware cloth it can even be on the surface. The principle is that diggers like to dig at the corner where the wall meets the ground and that is what you prevent with a skirt.
Now a skirt won’t prevent tunnels like rats make but your best bet on excluding rats is to exclude their food by not having chicken food that is spilled and in the run over night. Personally I use a rat-proof chicken feeder.
As for bedding don’t worry too much. I tip in leaves and wood chips and veggies and the chickens bring out their coop bedding (straw, shavings, leaves) and it is all fine.
Particularly in a run don’t get wedded to something pricey - I mostly use free stuff.

 

[Anon112]

As others have said, don’t put anything under the run floor. Better to have a skirt on the outside.
A skirt doesn’t need to be deep - if you use hardware cloth it can even be on the surface. The principle is that diggers like to dig at the corner where the wall meets the ground and that is what you prevent with a skirt.
Now a skirt won’t prevent tunnels like rats make but your best bet on excluding rats is to exclude their food by not having chicken food that is spilled and in the run over night. Personally I use a rat-proof chicken feeder.
As for bedding don’t worry too much. I tip in leaves and wood chips and veggies and the chickens bring out their coop bedding (straw, shavings, leaves) and it is all fine.
Particularly in a run don’t get wedded to something pricey - I mostly use free stuff.

This is now what I'm trying to do: exclude larger predators and deter rats by denying them food with treadle feeders.

 

[Bsmac]

So I’m going to be getting 3 chickens this Spring and have started designing the run. I was thinking maybe make the floor of the run dirt, but say 2 inches below the dirt have concrete, so that the run is safe, but comfortable. Is this a good idea or should I discard any plans of using concrete?

A 2 foot wide apron of 1\2 inch hardware cloth laid on top of the ground will do the job. Fasten it with long landscape staples. Make sure to put the hardware cloth right up against the bottom of the run. No need for concrete!

 

[McChooky]

Rats can chew thru anything but steel. I don't care how hard it is they'll eventually chew thru anything else if they want in.

Use 1/2" hardware cloth(the good stuff is 16 gauge galvanized) and rat proof treadle feeders

 

[redinator]

Oh wow should I still try the concrete below?

I would say yes, you can still add a kiddie pool with soil/sand for them to dust bathe in.

 

[RoyalChick]

I would say yes, you can still add a kiddie pool with soil/sand for them to dust bathe in.

Just curious why you would go through the expense of concrete. I don't really see the point.

 

[redinator]

Just curious why you would go through the expense of concrete. I don't really see the point.

I was just meant a kiddie pool would suffice as a dust bath if they wanted to use a concrete base.

My current run is built over a failed (sunken and overgrown) concrete pad with pine shaving, sand and soil for the chickens to dig around in.