Run Ground Cover

[GoldenSlumbers]

I was thinking about putting fallen leaves in the run for ground cover. Is it better to use whole or shredded leaves? Maybe both? It's in a very shady area so the ground doesn't dry out as much, especially this time of year.
Or should I consider a different type of ground cover?

 

[Mother of Chaos]

I was thinking about putting fallen leaves in the run for ground cover. Is it better to use whole or shredded leaves? Maybe both? It's in a very shady area so the ground doesn't dry out as much, especially this time of year.
Or should I consider a different type of ground cover?

When you write "ground cover", do you mean in the traditional gardening sense of preventing weed growth? If so, your chickens will take care of that nicely.

If you mean to keep the area from turning into a swamp, can the drainage be improved a bit first? Otherwise, I would add in pine straw (dried pine needles) or something like bark chips to the leaves. Leaves alone tend to pack down when continually wet. Chickens adore dead leaves, always hoping to find bugs and slugs. They will often keep this litter nicely turned over for you.

^^ My experience so far

 

[FrostRanger]

Leave are great ground cover!
Doesn't matter a bit if they're shreaded or not, they'll like them just the same

Another idea would be mulch or woodchips as those don't decay quite as fast as leaf litter ime. Many hardware stores are having sales on mulch rn so I would check around if you decide to go that route

 

[GoldenSlumbers]

Awesome, thanks for the info!
The ground is pretty flat, so improving drainage would probably be an extensive project.
Should I try to put a layer of maybe thicker mulch/wood chips first? Or are they just going to scratch and stir up the substrate down to the dirt anyway?

 

[FrostRanger]

Awesome, thanks for the info!
The ground is pretty flat, so improving drainage would probably be an extensive project.
Should I try to put a layer of maybe thicker mulch/wood chips first? Or are they just going to scratch and stir up the substrate down to the dirt anyway?

Either or is fine, they're going to mix it up regardless so I wouldn't worry about what order to add them

 

[Dominique King]

I have put old coop bedding, old hay, straw, leaves, and lawn clippings! They love it! Straw during spring when it is very rainy and during snow melt as well though out the summer when we get rain to soak up the rain. I use the fallen leaves during autumn to put into the run for the flock to ‘leaf’ though. And when I clean the coop and nesting boxes, I put the old nesting material as well as the wood shavings on the coop floor into the run. All of this over time fills in the holes that your chickens dig and also builds up the ground in the run!

I also put logs and old tires in the run for my flock to play with and find bugs that like to hide under them!

 

[perkolator]

I add pretty much any and all organic material and vegetation into my chicken run. It's basically like a giant compost pile and is wonderful topsoil now that's it's been established for a few years, I use it in the garden and in my potting mixes, every shovel is loaded with worms and soil life.

I'd start with a truckload of arborist mulch so you have a nice thick base layer, then add in all the other stuff: leaves and rakings, mulched up plants and trimmings and grass clippings etc (I just run them over with lawn mower to chomp them up smaller before dumping in the run, just make a pile the chickens will spread it out), food scraps, old bedding, shavings, hay/straw bales, you name it.

Since you mention drainage - over time you will be raising the terrain inside the run with all this additional material, above the natural terrain - so standing water and drainage shouldn't be an issue...at least inside the run

 

[Mother of Chaos]

I’ve been amazed how quickly the run litter has dried out after several days of on and off downpours. And of course the Demented Diggers keep churning it all up, so it dries out.

 

[Appalachickens]

A little late to this, but a few days ago I filled three garbage bags with leaves from the creek bed and dumped them in the run. The girls absolutely love rooting through and it dried really quickly after a heavy downpour last night. I plan to keep adding as it breaks down.