Run flooring - its wet in London!

[Honey65]

Hi

We live in London, UK and its pretty wet and mild here. We have 4 hens in a 2x4 metre run. We still haven't hit on the perfect floor covering in their run though. The run has a rain shield on the roof but nothing on the sides so the flooring does get wet in heavy rain. We've tried:

Sharp sand / bark chips - smells like a pond
Bark chips - gets poo-ey quickly and looks disgusting
Grass - gets trashed

Run is currently on a concrete base and considering its pretty wet and windy, what else could we try? This year has been REALLY wet and nothing seems to be drying out. We've thought about rubber chips, hard wood chips, horse bedding but we don't want to spend more money without getting some advice

Help!

 

[Rasita]

Hi Honey, is there any way to make a higher barrier and put some compost in the bottom few inches give them something to dig and great to throw on your garden after. I'd avoid rubber because they do like to dig and if the dig that up or eat it by mistake it not going to do them any good. The issue is what ever you use they will dig it in. Gravel or similar would be awful to clean, as you say the rest smells. Sawdust isn't good for the lungs, wood shaving I imagine would be similar to bark chips,. I'm I lucky I have space so I have a run I move about onto fresh ground till it's churned but also I let them roam an area but that's not practical for you.

 

[4 the Birds]

Hi

We live in London, UK and its pretty wet and mild here. We have 4 hens in a 2x4 metre run. We still haven't hit on the perfect floor covering in their run though. The run has a rain shield on the roof but nothing on the sides so the flooring does get wet in heavy rain. We've tried:

Sharp sand / bark chips - smells like a pond
Bark chips - gets poo-ey quickly and looks disgusting
Grass - gets trashed

Run is currently on a concrete base and considering its pretty wet and windy, what else could we try? This year has been REALLY wet and nothing seems to be drying out. We've thought about rubber chips, hard wood chips, horse bedding but we don't want to spend more money without getting some advice

Help!

The main problem with concrete in the coop or run is that liquids have a barrier when it passes through the bedding. I would try a thick layer of sand with perhaps 1x6's at the fence bottom. I cheaper way to go would be to add a 3 or 4 inch layer of pine chips. Not hard wood landscape mulch stuff but the light thin pine chip bedding. Rake and add material as needed

My run is on natural ground and it has 5 or 6 inch layer of hay, straw, and pine chips. During heavy rains it drains down and away really fast and stays clean. I never need to rake the run... I just add a little material ever few months. Most all the poop is in the poop boards in the coop and I scrape those clean daily.