Straw or dirt for my fenced run?

[Scotty from BI]

I have a 60’ x 4’ run which is covered for about 40 feet and completely dry. Up until now it has just been dirt because it is so easy to clean. I just use a dog pooper scooper stick and tray. The dirt is pretty sterile in that it has no bugs or plants, but the chickens do like scratching in it and taking dirt baths all over the run. I have been wondering if by putting in straw and perhaps some leaves from my maple trees if it might be more interesting to the chickens. I am getting some day old chicks next month which is a replacement flock, so I want to make it as interesting and natural as possible since they do not free range. The down side of straw and leaves is that it will make it harder to clean daily scooping poop and I do not want to use deep bedding. I prefer eliminating as much droppings every day as possible. Also, if I do add this material, how often will I have to remove it, if I clean the fun daily?

So my question is, should I leave it dirt or cover the dirt with straw and perhaps some leaves? I have thrown spinach and kale leaves in it every day along with dried grubs.

Thanks.

 

[Micaelasaintlaurent]

I would say either dirt or sand. We did sand in ours and will do sand in our next one. You could always do dirt than add in a sort of fodder system so they have those fresh greens. I would skip the straw because straw isnt the best for them to eat and it also collects poop and eats nasty when it rains

 

[Mahlzeit]

If you want to keep scooping the poop out I would suggest just leaving it dirt.

 

[doublenerds]

I put piles of leaves, pine needles, and other yard waste in the outside run and they immediately start climbing Leaf Mountain and spreading it all over the place. They really seem to love it. It also serves as a means of composting their poop and making the run smell like autumn leaves instead of chicken yuck. I periodically rake the leaves back into piles and they start all over, having more fun and churning more compost. Seems to be working pretty well.

 

[Frazzemrat1]

I have dirt, and once a week I add either pine shavings or straw. The birds mix it all up and fold it over and I never scoop poop. It all composts and does its own thing and everybody's happy.

 

[NancyNurseCxMama]

I have an enclosed dirt run and toss in pine shavings once in a while. It's not covered right now but it has good drainage. After a rain the girls are out there chasing worms and having a grand old time---no puddles, no stink.
No poop scooping in the run but I do throw in some PDZ occasionally just for the heck of it. They have PDZ poop trays in the coop so the coop poop is scooped. There isn't much poop on the coop floor and I knock the shavings and any poop out of the coop into the run during a big cleanup.
Tons of feathers and I'm not sure if they degrade after a while. If not, I might have to clean some of those up.
The only leaves I have in any great amount are black walnut leaves and most of them fall into brush and wetlands so I can't rake them up easily. I have grass clippings but the girls eat them to the exclusion of anything else when I toss them in there so I don't add too much of that stuff.

 

[debid]

We have clay for dirt and it rains in my run so I've used huge quantities of dry leaves to keep the run from having puddles. Every year or two, I harvest several inches of black, beautiful soil. We now have a stockpile of wood chips so I'll be using those as well. I am still amazed at how quickly these gals break down tough oak leaves! The run never smells bad which is a nice benefit.

 

[Scotty from BI]

Thanks guys, I’m leaning toward leaving it plain dirt. The dry side stays completely dry and the wet side has great drainage and the dirt never gets muddy. I have an enormous quantity of maple leaves in fall, so I may throw some of those leaves down, but I still intend to scoop the poop daily. I’m wondering if the leaves will make it difficult to find the droppings. With just plain dirt it just sits on top of the soil. Problem with deep litter is the soil needs to be moist under the top layer and my soil is dust dry year around and the wet side stays wet for most of 6 months.

 

[ScottandSam]

I'd use both straw and dirt. The straw on the dirt till the turns to dirt then more straw. FWIW they will dig holes back to dirt here and there.

Scott

 

[aart]

If you insist on scooping poops everyday, I'd go with good coarse sand.
What is your climate?

I scoop poop off sand/PDZ roost boards every day, but nowhere else.
Dry shavings in coop and semi-deep(2-6") litter in run.