Run flooring advice please

[Emily26]

Hey hey, more questions from a new chicky owner. I've got a walk-in run and coop. I originally assumed I was fine to leave the run floor as the grass it sits on but now I'm not sure.... Should I be putting something down on top of the grass too?

 

[DobieLover]

Hey hey, more questions from a new chicky owner. I've got a walk-in run and coop. I originally assumed I was fine to leave the run floor as the grass it sits on but now I'm not sure.... Should I be putting something down on top of the grass too?

The flock will put to waste the grass in short order.
I like a thick layer of wood chips. It drains well, slowly decomposes with the poop and makes a great substrate for digging holes for dust baths and scratching in.

 

[Emily26]

The flock will put to waste the grass in short order.
I like a thick layer of wood chips. It drains well, slowly decomposes with the poop and makes a great substrate for digging holes for dust baths and scratching in.
View attachment 2627294

Thank you! They're only 4 weeks and there's only 4 of them so they're taking their time with the grass. Do you reckon I should wait till they've decimated the grass or stick some substrate over the top in the mean time? so much poo sooo many flies, all these things you learn hey

 

[rosemarythyme]

Leave it grass for now, and let them enjoy it. They'll kill it for you.

I also use wood chips as the base of my run (deep litter). If that's something you're considering, best to get wood chips now, so they can sit and age until you're ready to use them.

 

[Emily26]

Leave it grass for now, and let them enjoy it. They'll kill it for you.

I also use wood chips as the base of my run (deep litter). If that's something you're considering, best to get wood chips now, so they can sit and age until you're ready to use them.

fab thank you! They do love the grass. My plan is to use the deep litter method. Would sawdust and grass clippings work for that too instead of woodchips? I have a free supply of it.

 

[rosemarythyme]

No, sawdust is too fine and grass clippings + sawdust, if they ever get wet, would just turn into a big wet mat.

Wood chips (ideally chunky, aged, and in a mixture of sizes) do two things: provide drainage, and provide aeration, both of which are key to keeping the flooring fairly dry and keeping odor down.

The grass clippings could be a good mix in, in moderation, with the chips. Sawdust might be too fine to use for anything in a run, really, though maybe very small amounts mixed in would be ok, if you need to use it up.

 

[Emily26]

Thankyou and how often do you end up putting fresh woodchips down out of interest? guessing it'll vary depending on space, flock size etc

 

[rosemarythyme]

Yeah, the amount of augmenting needed will vary from set up to set up. Like for me, I stopped actively adding any chips to the run for about 2 years (the only chips added were used ones from the coop), and that was fine up until last winter when the run started getting muddy again, so I added a bunch to the worst areas, and it re-stabilized very quickly.

Basically if it starts to become muddy, sticky, smelly... it probably needs more chips. Otherwise grass clippings, weeds, garden trimmings, dried leaves, pine needles, etc. are all typical good mix ins to help with the composting action to break down poop inside the litter.

 

[Emily26]

You're a fountain of knowledge, thanks so much for letting me quiz you

 

[rosemarythyme]

You're a fountain of knowledge, thanks so much for letting me quiz you

Haha best of luck. Unfortunately I found out the hard way that when grass is gone, something has to take its place. The mud in our grass-stripped run got so bad that it literally pulled the boots off my feet, and it was so stinky!

Took a few months to stabilize it with wood chips intially (as we didn't have time to wait for the pile to age, we did thin layers, a bit at a time) but now it's much improved, to the point that the chicken run drains faster than the surrounding lawn and landscaping after rains and even flooding.