Run placement

[Oreoandhens]

Hi everyone. We are moving our chickens to a new enclosure where they will have a lot more space but this is going to be put on soil. The enclosure does have a roof and one wall which will be covered however I still get worried that rain will get in there. What sort of stuff is best on soil so it doesn’t get all muddy and horrible? At the moment there’s loads of grass there but I’m sure that will be gone in no time haha

 

[3KillerBs]

Look into the Deep Litter Method.

Once the grass is gone a generous mix of wood chips, shavings, straw, pine straw, fall leaves, and whatever other dry organic material comes to hand will absorb water and react with the poop to create compost.

When you have the right balance of organic material to poop and the right level of moisture the process is entirely odor-free (some rain in the run is fine but be sure to correct the drainage if water pools in the run or if groundwater runs through it).

 

[Oreoandhens]

Look into the Deep Litter Method.

Once the grass is gone a generous mix of wood chips, shavings, straw, pine straw, fall leaves, and whatever other dry organic material comes to hand will absorb water and react with the poop to create compost.

When you have the right balance of organic material to poop and the right level of moisture the process is entirely odor-free (some rain in the run is fine but be sure to correct the drainage if water pools in the run or if groundwater runs through it).

Cool! Will I then need to rake this out and start again? Thanks

 

[3KillerBs]

Cool! Will I then need to rake this out and start again? Thanks

That will depend on your climate, your weather, what materials you use, how many chickens you have in how much space, and other such factors.

Some people change their deep litter once a year. Some twice a year. Some just push the top layers over and harvest compost from underneath when they need it. Some get the balance so perfect that they never need to change it, just add more layers.

You will need to add more bedding on top at intervals. For my in-town coop I needed to add bedding once a month or so and I changed it twice a year.

 

[CatsandCrops]

We also do deep liter method. We started with grass, which after about a week or two everything was dirt/mud. We then added a load of wood chips (free from the city we live in) and have been mixing in grass clippings once every week or two. After about 2 months, we added a second load of wood chips to even things out (we have a small slant to our run) and it's been going great. The chickens do all the work of turning things over/mixing things in once we throw in kitchen scrapes or a handful of pellets.

In the spring we plan to remove the top layer, shovel out the usable compost, and start it over again.

 

[aart]

What sort of stuff is best on soil so it doesn’t get all muddy and horrible?

First, check the area for any drainage issues, both from above and along the ground.
No bedding type will work well in an area that can get standing water.

 

[Oreoandhens]

We also do deep liter method. We started with grass, which after about a week or two everything was dirt/mud. We then added a load of wood chips (free from the city we live in) and have been mixing in grass clippings once every week or two. After about 2 months, we added a second load of wood chips to even things out (we have a small slant to our run) and it's been going great. The chickens do all the work of turning things over/mixing things in once we throw in kitchen scrapes or a handful of pellets.

In the spring we plan to remove the top layer, shovel out the usable compost, and start it over again.

Do you think wood chips alone will be good enough?

 

[CatsandCrops]

Do you think wood chips alone will be good enough?

It's been working out for us without issue. We had about 3 or 4 inches of wood chips down with the first load and just added to that with the grass clippings. We also throw daily kitchen scrapes (and garden weeds/clippings etc) into the run for them to snack on so that's been mixed in too.

After those 2 months or so the original wood chips had been packed down/broken down to about 2 inches so the 2nd load of chips brought it up to about 5-6 inches. As fall progresses we'll be adding in leaves from the yard. We figured with winter coming, we would rather have a bit more chips for drainage than have to worry about it mid winter.

I would agree with others; as long as you have proper drainage things will work out. We had awful storms this summer that raised the river in our backyard a solid 20 feet and caused a lot of flood damage - our run drained well and there was no standing water for them.

 

[aart]

Do you think wood chips alone will be good enough?

Works here...and my run has a mesh roof, but good drainage.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Do you think wood chips alone will be good enough?

It depends. Wood chips help provide drainage and aeration, but not necessarily the best composting action to help eat up poops. IMO ideally you should use a mix of organic matter, with chips as the base and then other things such as dried leaves, grass, weeds, garden trimmings, etc. mixed in to help compost down the poop