SW Run Litter/Maintenance (Phoenix, AZ Metro area)

[Yabadabadoo]

Hi all. I live in Phoenix, AZ, metro area, on a large irrigated, grassy, treed lot (.8 acre). Our chickens free range most of the time, and of course over time are digging up our yard. We’d like to incentivize their digging in particular areas, esp the chicken run, where there is already little grass. Do any of you put litter on the dirt of your run or parts of your yard to keep those areas interesting for your girls? What do you use? Then also, any comments re handling with flood irrigation (for those not familiar, we literally flood our yard to about 1 foot deep about 20x a year, so everything on the ground gets wet and if not boxed in, floats around)? I am also open to commentary about just how much chickens will tear up my yard…we had 4 chickens before and it was not noticable. Now with 16….um, yeah, different story . Thank you in advance.

 

[Boise-girls]

I put a mix of organic stuff down where I wanted them to focus more (plus throughout the run) - chopped straw, hemp, wood chips, coir, kitchen leavings, etc. However, with flood irrigation, you'd probably be better off with just wood chips, based on what folks say here. Even in your dry climate, I'd worry about mold with straw. Also, lots of things for them to stand on during irrigation - stumps, chairs, roosts, cinder blocks, etc. However, wet and warm is way better than wet and cold!

 

[aart]

Do any of you put litter on the dirt of your run or parts of your yard to keep those areas interesting for your girls? What do you use?

Definitely in the run to handle the poops....I don't free range.

we literally flood our yard to about 1 foot deep about 20x a year,

Really, a foot deep?
Looks like you have a very large yard.

 

[Boise-girls]

Really, a foot deep?
Looks like you have a very large yard.

Irrigation ditches. That's done in parts of Boise, too. Although I've never seen it quite that deep!

 

[aart]

Irrigation ditches.

Ditches I could understand, but.....

we literally flood our yard to about 1 foot deep