Run.. Right or Wrong ?

[elmo]

I go around my sand run daily with a kitty litter scoop picking up all the poo I can spot. Every few days, I rake the surface of the run, also. I'm not sure if this would be practical to do with a large run with many chickens, though.

 

[Opa]

The sand will dry the droppings and most can be raked up with the use of a spring toothed rake. There will be some droppings that break down and become incorporated with the sand. This will not present a problem. I occasionally top dress the run with more sand and dust the entire area with Sevin and DE. No smell, not lice.

 

[JimWWhite]

Because I have at least 3" of sand on top I can use my sharp pointed hoe and I just drag it and 'till in' the poop. My plan is to remove the top 1" of the sand in the spring and that'll go onto my garden. I'll use it where I plant my potatoes and I'll till it in with my rotor-tiller. Then I'll bring in a pickup load (1/2 ton) and lay it down on top of the remaining two inches in the run and repeat the process next year. Recycle, reduce, reuse...

 

[gsim]

I was wondering about cleaning the run before I built mine. I had decided to do a really large run as opposed to free-ranging. So, I did one that is around 1900-2000 sq ft for 24 pullets. I never clean it at all. I just let the rainfall do it for me. A summer dry spell can make it a bit smelly, but at the same time, it dries out the poop real fast so that you are really only smelling the most recent

stuff.

 

[CoyoteMagic]

I use what god gave me. Plain old red NC soil. Like gsim, I let nature take care of cleaning the run.

 

[chicachic]

does anyone else have ducks and chickens residing together in the same pen? I had to find emergency housing for the c hickens. chicks like it dry - ducks like it sloppy and they don't mind the rain. The only place consistently dry is the coop. I use mulched leaves in the outside area. I wonder if pea gravel is ok to use for both of them:/ And what setup does any one else have?

 

[JimWWhite]

Quote:
But I doubt that nature meant to cluster a bunch of chickens up in one small space and expect it them to keep it clean...

 

[Sissy]

JimWWhite

Thanks for the sound advice
I need all the help Ican get. I did rake the straw out of the 2 runs
yesterday before we got our snow, the coops all have wood shavings,
and straw in the nest boxes. Now what can I do with the 4 bales of straw
I bought

any ideas..

 

[Sissy]

Gerry, thanks I was wondering
what the cost would be .
needless to say we have snow and more muck
So I have to wait it out to do the job. in the mean time,
I have put wood planks back down and tip toeing with my flock.

 

[Opa]

I bought several bales of straw that I placed outside the runs to prevent snow from drifting in. This spring after planting my tomatoes and peppers I will use the straw to mulch around them.