Run Help

[18stellas1bella]

Before we let my chickens outside in a short while we need to do some work with their outdoor run. So far we know for sure that we need to cut down the weeds and overgrown bushes and re-do the fence. So what I'm wandering is what to have on the ground for them. Grass? Dirt? Sand? Stone? Please help! Also I desperately need answers on my other thread: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/823363/ducks-chickens-together

 

[Baymule]

My coop and run are both dirt floored. I toss in grass clippings, leaves, pea hulls, corn shucks, pine shavings when it has rained a lot (to help soak up the water), garden trimmings and end of the season pulled up plants, pine straw--anything organic. What they don't eat, they poop on and scratch to bits. They make the compost for the garden for me, I just give them the raw materials. LOL I wouldn't have it any other way. I dig it out several times a year. Sometimes I add direct to the garden, sometimes I dump it in wire bins I built just for this purpose. If you don't garden, then you can always sprinkle it over your yard. Oh, and it almost never smells.

 

[Judy]

They will take care of overgrown weeds, and some bushes will give them shade. I wouldn't take the greenery out any more than I had to. Mine love tall weeds! Once they kill off all the greenery, you can decide whether to leave it plain dirt, fill it with sand, etc. You won't be able to plant grass unless you remove the chickens for several weeks -- and then they will kill it all down unless it is a very large yard. A lot of people use and love sand because it is easy to clean.

Mine live in a large fenced yard; we just run the lawn mower over most of it about once a month, leaving some clumps of tall greenery.

 

[18stellas1bella]

They will take care of overgrown weeds, and some bushes will give them shade. I wouldn't take the greenery out any more than I had to. Mine love tall weeds! Once they kill off all the greenery, you can decide whether to leave it plain dirt, fill it with sand, etc. You won't be able to plant grass unless you remove the chickens for several weeks -- and then they will kill it all down unless it is a very large yard. A lot of people use and love sand because it is easy to clean.

Mine live in a large fenced yard; we just run the lawn mower over most of it about once a month, leaving some clumps of tall greenery.

Well my run is filled with burrs- we aren't keeping those for sure we hate them! It also has a nice maple tree so they will have lots of shade. Another thing is there's a raspberry bush in the corner, should we keep it or cut it? Thanks!

 

[Judy]

They will love the raspberries -- if they don't kill the bush! I wouldn't remove it. Mine used to free range where there are lots of wild blackberries. I don't know whether they attacked the bushes, though; there are too many to see the damage. If your burrs are a seed, they may eat them, too. I never had any trouble with their eating something that made them sick. Some plants they leave and some the attack. I don't think they are necessarily "smart" about such things. I think they probably just don't go back to something that tastes bad, or pokes them.

 

[18stellas1bella]

Okay thank you