Suggestions for run material in hot/humid/rainy climate

[FloriDUH JBot]

We are located in coastal south Florida, about 3/4 of a mile from the Gulf of Mexico. Hot and humid most of the year with a lot of rain during the summer months. We are using a partially covered run that sits under a good-sized oak tree. It we will see a fair share of wet days no matter what. I've seen varying suggestions as to the best material to use for the run. Some say just let the chickens turn the land, since it is mostly sand anyway and scoop the poop. Some say they use pine or white shavings or wood chips. And I've seen people disagree with these suggestions for various reasons - sand and scoop causes a fly issue, while shavings or wood chips can cause other issues due to staying wet.

Looking for some good advice on what to use for our run. Where we are located is very sandy to begin with. As soon as the chickens turn whatever grass is there, it will be mostly sand.

Thanks!

 

[FloriDUH JBot]

I just realized there are state-specific threads, so I posted my question over there

 

[3KillerBs]

Welcome to BYC.

My part of the Steamy Southeast isn't as extreme as yours, but I have had excellent results with Deep Bedding in my coop and Deep Litter in my run.

You can use any dry organic material as your base material for Deep Litter but coarse wood chips of the sort you get from a tree-trimming service are often considered the gold standard. However, my favorite material is pine straw.

Not only is it free for the raking on my property (DH bought me a better lawnsweeper so I don't have to rake it all by hand), but it resists packing/matting and the surface always dries out rapidly after even the heaviest rain -- a claim tested by all those tropical storms that ran us over last summer and a very wet winter.

 

[FloriDUH JBot]

Welcome to BYC.

My part of the Steamy Southeast isn't as extreme as yours, but I have had excellent results with Deep Bedding in my coop and Deep Litter in my run.

You can use any dry organic material as your base material for Deep Litter but coarse wood chips of the sort you get from a tree-trimming service are often considered the gold standard. However, my favorite material is pine straw.

Not only is it free for the raking on my property (DH bought me a better lawnsweeper so I don't have to rake it all by hand), but it resists packing/matting and the surface always dries out rapidly after even the heaviest rain -- a claim tested by all those tropical storms that ran us over last summer and a very wet winter.

Pine straw - yes, excellent suggestion. Does all of the things that you mention well. Hadn't thought about pine straw. Thanks!

 

[3KillerBs]

Pine straw - yes, excellent suggestion. Does all of the things that you mention well. Hadn't thought about pine straw. Thanks!

I started using it with my in-town flock years ago. We had to rake it up anyway and I'd read about it being used as horse stall bedding in Misty of Chicoteague so I tried it, figuring I had nothing to lose.

I don't think it's absorbent enough to use in the coop, though I mix some into the shavings to help prevent packing. But it's great in the run.

 

[CKfarm22]

We are located in coastal south Florida, about 3/4 of a mile from the Gulf of Mexico. Hot and humid most of the year with a lot of rain during the summer months. We are using a partially covered run that sits under a good-sized oak tree. It we will see a fair share of wet days no matter what. I've seen varying suggestions as to the best material to use for the run. Some say just let the chickens turn the land, since it is mostly sand anyway and scoop the poop. Some say they use pine or white shavings or wood chips. And I've seen people disagree with these suggestions for various reasons - sand and scoop causes a fly issue, while shavings or wood chips can cause other issues due to staying wet.

Looking for some good advice on what to use for our run. Where we are located is very sandy to begin with. As soon as the chickens turn whatever grass is there, it will be mostly sand.

Thanks!

I live in NJ where we get humid weather and it rains too. We ended up just using soil in our run. We put plastic roofing, you can find it at home depot, over the top and we haven’t really had a problem with it. The chickens claw at the dirt and turn it for us so we haven’t had a problem with smell. We also sometimes use a rake to turn the soil.

 

[Jessicamtorres93]

I live in NJ where we get humid weather and it rains too. We ended up just using soil in our run. We put plastic roofing, you can find it at home depot, over the top and we haven’t really had a problem with it. The chickens claw at the dirt and turn it for us so we haven’t had a problem with smell. We also sometimes use a rake to turn the soil.

I live in Jersey too and my run floor is always a mess. I’m going to buy the plastic roofing! What type of dirt/floor do you use? Mine keeps packing down and is as hard as a Rock. I constantly have to turn it but it’s difficult

 

[CKfarm22]

I live in Jersey too and my run floor is always a mess. I’m going to buy the plastic roofing! What type of dirt/floor do you use? Mine keeps packing down and is as hard as a Rock. I constantly have to turn it but it’s difficult

My brother got it for us from a local dirt/rock/mulch place where you can buy it but square feet. We are going to end up using something different because mine like to dig at the dirt and make big holes into it.

 

[linguini]

I live in Jersey too and my run floor is always a mess. I’m going to buy the plastic roofing! What type of dirt/floor do you use? Mine keeps packing down and is as hard as a Rock. I constantly have to turn it but it’s difficult

I am in central NJ as well. Our run was built as an 8x8x8 cube, covered with chicken wire and hardware mesh. We later added extended run space covered with birdnets and fenced in with deer net.

The cubical run used to turn terribly muddy after rain till we covered the cube with a tarp under the chicken wire (slanted to simulate a roof for water to run off). Since the tarp is mounted from inside, the rain would still trickle in from the sides, so we added 2x8 plastic boards on each of the top four edges as overhang (cheap and easy to install - I hope they'll last through the winter! ).

The whole set up was a total hack because we didn't realize the importance of a roof when the cube was constructed and accessibility to the top of the cube became a real obstacle since it's covered with chicken wire!

But the set up works in keeping the run dry and keeping the snow out during winter.
We also added play sand to the floor of the cube, and periodically I'd add yard waste to the floor. No smell, ground is dry, and I've only power washed the inside once in spring in an entire year.