Show your run

[AnnaWolf]

I have 3 birds wich live in their run for most of the time. When i am busy in the yard i let them out with me. They love it. All the diffrent flowers and undrgrowth. So i like to copy it(sortoff) and transform their run in their own chicken yard.
Who has done this? I really like to see pictures to give me an idea of what could work

 

[DobieLover]

I have 3 birds wich live in their run for most of the time. When i am busy in the yard i let them out with me. They love it. All the diffrent flowers and undrgrowth. So i like to copy it(sortoff) and transform their run in their own chicken yard.
Who has done this? I really like to see pictures to give me an idea of what could workView attachment 2041479

Most runs are far too small to support plants. The chickens just tear it all up in short order.
You can use thick wood chips, dry leaves, etc in the run so the chickens have something to scratch through. Put natural branches, stumps and logs for them to perch on during the day, make places for them to dust bathe and provide lots of shade and areas of sun and they will be fine.
I actually have a large predator proof run attached to the coop and all of it is contained inside a 1/3 acre pen surrounded by poultry netting charged with 10,000 volts. The pen has two planting arrangements and a huge old style Quince bush in it for hawk cover.
It works well. I've yet to suffer a loss of any bird while inside the confines of the pen.

 

[aart]

Most runs are far too small to support plants. The chickens just tear it all up in short order.

Ditto Dat!

You could try some grazing frames.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/grazing-frames.73645/

I just have wood chippings to deal with the poops.
But put down pieces of wood or plywood(12x12") that I flip over every few days so they can get to the bugs that shelter under the wood.

 

[AnnaWolf]

Thank you both, i do have woodchips and perches and a place for dust baths in their run and i grow some veggies for them. Their run is about 10m2 could i section of a bit? About 3m2 on each side my run is L shaped and make a garden section for them there. That i can close one and open the other, could that work?

 

[aart]

Thank you both, i do have woodchips and perches and a place for dust baths in their run and i grow some veggies for them. Their run is about 10m2 could i section of a bit? About 3m2 on each side my run is L shaped and make a garden section for them there. That i can close one and open the other, could that work?

You can try, but don't plant anything that is too dear to you,
because chances are they will tear it apart pretty quickly.

 

[AnnaWolf]

You can try, but don't plant anything that is too dear to you,
because chances are they will tear it apart pretty quickly.

Trying it will be the purpose of it is that it is for them to explore and have somthing different, and i love gardening so maybe its just a reason to grow some more plants

 

[Melodychick]

I have two runs. one is a predator proof, roofed run which has wood chips and things like saw horses and benches for them to climb on. The other is not predator proof. It is covered by bird netting and so gets plenty sun and rain. In there I’ve planted shrubs, herbs and flowers. Everything is safe for chickens should they eat it and I have large concrete stones around the base to keep them from scratching up the roots. A few of the things I planted were eaten right away, but others are still doing well several years later. Plants include bee balm, salvia, Turks cap and oregano. Shrubs are buddleia and American beauty berry. Hoping to add a few evergreens this year.

 

[CatWhisperer]

Most runs are far too small to support plants. The chickens just tear it all up in short order.
You can use thick wood chips, dry leaves, etc in the run so the chickens have something to scratch through. Put natural branches, stumps and logs for them to perch on during the day, make places for them to dust bathe and provide lots of shade and areas of sun and they will be fine.
I actually have a large predator proof run attached to the coop and all of it is contained inside a 1/3 acre pen surrounded by poultry netting charged with 10,000 volts. The pen has two planting arrangements and a huge old style Quince bush in it for hawk cover.
It works well. I've yet to suffer a loss of any bird while inside the confines of the pen.
View attachment 2041517View attachment 2041518View attachment 2041519
View attachment 2041520

Something is wrong with this picture. There’s no poop on the chairs.

 

[aart]

Something is wrong with this picture. There’s no poop on the chairs.

I wondered the same!
..and those are very cool chairs @DobieLover

 

[rosemarythyme]

could i section of a bit? About 3m2 on each side my run is L shaped and make a garden section for them there. That i can close one and open the other, could that work?

I used to have a veggie garden in my split run, so I could close off that half of the run when I didn't want them to have access...



(Wow that's a blast from the past! The new coop now stands where the beds used to be.)

In order to keep the chickens from completely tearing up the garden I used chicken wire and bird netting to fence it off, but they were allowed to eat whatever they could reach between the wire.