Straw in run?

[tenderkat]

Well, I've been contemplating this for awhile, and I'm trying to get some definitives as to the pros and cons.

I have a 17x7 foot run, with 6 hens. The ground is pretty much a mix of regular old mountain dirt, sand, rocks, and some pine chips. The girls have pretty much decimated any hopes of anything growing in there, but have plenty of things to roost on, and seem to keep busy dustbathing and pecking/scratching around in the dirt. The ground continues to drain fairly well and quickly, so it really only gets slightly muddy following a heavy snow melt, or a seasonal rain.

I have seen some people put straw down in their runs, and I'm just curious if this is something I should consider doing in my run. Just wondering why people do this, what are the positives, what are some of the drawbacks? Do your chickens enjoy scratching around in the straw, does it give them some form of entertainment, does it make the cold ground more comfortable? Can it potentially create a haven for mites and other pests, does it make for a stinkier/messier run, is there a risk of mold? I have also heard of straw contributing to possible sour/impacted crops, but I honestly couldn't tell you where I read that.

I guess I'm just hoping for any and all feedback regarding using straw in our runs. If there is really no good reason to do this, I won't bother. But, if it is something that might enrich the living environment of my chickens, I might consider tossing some in there.

Thanks!!

Here is a couple pics of my run. The area surrounding the coop and run is gardened pretty intensively in the summer, so it looks much prettier in season

 

[Jenski]

Hey - what a fun run with lots of playground stuff!

I tried sand in one of my runs to keep my feather-foot breeds from getting so muddy, and I now use it in all three of my runs. Drains great, and they love it for dust baths.

When it is extremely cold I reluctantly throw some straw in the smaller runs to keep the toes from getting to cold, but I have to really stay on it to keep it from getting disgusting. It gets a) matted; b) moldy; c) stinky; d) did I mention stinky? I have found it very high maintenance, and when our weather is really miserable I end up changing it out every second or third day. It gets all matted up with the wet sand, and when it freezes it does not want to come up. Not fun.

Hope that info helps!

 

[bishopschickens]

Well if you get a lot of rain like we do in VA, I would not recomend it. Because straw holds moisture and if the straw is down when it gets wet it makes a muddy disgusting mess. I actually ended up relocating all my coops because they didnt want to dry out. Now I garden where my old coops were!! I would recomend sand and small gravel. Or I read up about many people in the UK using recycled rubber mulch. It will not degrade so you dont have to replace it, it will not collect bacteria and washes off in the rain and the birds dont eat it. I recently found it a WalMart, but have not yet tried it.

 

[chookchick]

Don't do it! Like the other poster said--it holds moisture and mats down. Makes a stinky mess. I would not even use in the coop--for nestbox only! My run is covered with wood chip, that is the material created when tree trimmers take down or trim trees. I get it delivered for free in 10-35 yard loads (I also use it on my landscape). This material has been great for me, drains well, stays clean, the hens love it. A while back I started putting in some alfalfa hay. They would eat the leafy parts, and leave the straw stems. This started to build up in the run and made an awful mess which I am still raking out to this day--never again! Sand is also very popular, I would not use gravel or any plastic or rubber materials.

 

[elmo]

I have a small (8' by 8') covered run for my five bantams with sand as the base. When I can't let them out to forage in their tractor during the day, I throw down some alfalfa hay in a pile, which the chickens soon spread pretty evenly around the run. After a week or so, I rake up the hay, toss it into our compost pile, and throw down some more. Works pretty well, so far.

 

[Keltie]

Do you also build them a sandbox type thing to do dust baths? We live in rainy Vancouver, BC and it's just starting to rain for the season. We got our chickens in the summer, and they would just move the straw aside to get to the dirt and bathe. Since it's been raining, and we are doing deep litter, I'm concerned they can't move the heavy pile of hay to get access to dirt. I'm considering adding a frame filled with sand. Or replacing the straw in the run altogether with sand...but just concerned the poop will be harder to cover. The straw breaks down and can be added, poop and all, to the compost pile. I would be reluctant to put that much sand in my compost though.

Ideas?

 

[Vicky2479]

I have it in my run for several reasons, I found the run would get very muddy and slippery in winter when it rained so I threw some down so I wouldn't land on my butt in a nasty pile, the girls love it and every few days I would rake it all up into a pile and the hens would go nuts getting all the bugs that were under it then spreading it out again. Every few weeks I would take it all out and put it on the compost and throw in some more. Come summer time it keeps the dust down and in one corner I have dug some in and keep it abit moist so there is always worms there that are easy to dig up for them.
If you don't rake it up and turn it in winter, it can turn nasty and if it rained constantly for weeks or you had a lot of snow then I don't think I would recommend it but if your run is fairly well sheltered then I would say go for it.

 

[marianne7]

Iike some of the folk who use straw, we do to, but our run is covered, we find it works well, but I think this is because it is mostly rain proof, we are about to make a sand pit in the run, so the chucks can have dust baths, but we find straw great.....but I suppose it would be pretty messy in a run uncovered, perhaps you should think about covering some of the run and try it out

 

[cadeschicks]

I have covered run, and use hay in it. I like using hay because the poo sticks to it and makes it easy to rake everything up periodically.

 

[sezjasper]

It's great to get everyone's opinions because I'm also undecided (thanks for posting, Tenderkat!) Hopefully someone can answer a very stupid question for me...what's the difference between "straw" and "hay" or IS there a difference? I seem to find the two terms used interchangably.