Runs under the porch and ramp.

[Penny Hen]

I was thinking on how to lay out some of the pens I want and I suddenly thought about the space under the ramp and deck off the back door. Would that work as a run for chickens or quail? Would I gravel it? The system I am thinking of setting up is based on a recent article in Mother Earth News about using tunnel cages to use your chickens to work around a raised bed system and when the vegetables are spent in an area, pop a cage over it and connect it to the tunnel cage and let them work it over. Suddenly I saw the wasted space under the ramp and small deck as bird tunnels.

 

[4 the Birds]

Sounds great to utilize unused space. Just cage or tunnel areas can be used. The only downside to tunnels and small spaces is that they can be hard to get to for cleaning.

 

[Penny Hen]

Sounds great to utilize unused space. Just cage or tunnel areas can be used. The only downside to tunnels and small spaces is that they can be hard to get to for cleaning.

That was why I was wondering about gravel. I have noticed in some of the pictures of peoples birds the use of gravel. I assume it makes it easy to hose down. The birds would definitely keep the annoying weeds that want to sprout up underneath under control. If I graded the slope of the land right I could funnel the water towards the garden area.

 

[chfite]

One advantage of using sand in a run is that the chickens will turn the soil and poop over all the time thereby eliminating the need to clean the area. The turned material will decompose in time.

It seems to me that the gravel would need cleaning since it would seem that it would be difficult for the chickens to turn it over in the normal course of scratching.

Chris

 

[Penny Hen]

Thanks that is a great idea. Dose anyone use garden lime in their pens?