To cover or not, a small run for 2 hens with deep bedding

[DaveMK]

Should a run with deep wood chip bedding be covered from rain?
I've seen people doing both ways, and want to hear opinions.
I want the wood chip to compost down, as I plan to use it on the garden.
My run is 60W x 60H x 200L CM.
I have some clear polly that would do the job.
Thanks
Dave

 

[DaveMK]

Sorry, I should have mentioned my climate.
I’m in the UK, and have the potential for rain. This week is forecast a freeze.

 

[Percheron chick]

Not unless you get torrential downpours that flood the run. Some rain is good and is necessary to breakdown the wood chips.

 

[gtaus]

Should a run with deep wood chip bedding be covered from rain?
I've seen people doing both ways, and want to hear opinions.
I want the wood chip to compost down, as I plan to use it on the garden.

Composting needs moisture. Wood chips will take a long time to break down on their own. I mix grass clippings and other organic material along with my wood chips to help them compost. I converted my entire chicken run into a chicken run composting system, and letting rain fall on the run litter is the magic to get things composting. If you cover your run, you will have to water it yourself with buckets of water or a hose. The material you want to compost should have the consistency of a wrung out sponge.

Dry wood chips would take forever to compost. Like, maybe years and years. So mix in a bunch of greens and water them down.

Wood chips will rob the soil of nitrogen if you mix not-fully composted wood chips into the soil. You can use partially composted wood chips as top mulch, and they will eventually break down into soil. If you don't have time to let the wood chips fully compost, then using them as top mulch to suppress weeds is a great option. Over time, sitting out in the garden, the wood chips will break down and turn into soil.

 

[DaveMK]

Not unless you get torrential downpours that flood the run. Some rain is good and is necessary to breakdown the wood chips.

Thank you, I thought that was the case.

 

[DaveMK]

Composting needs moisture. Wood chips will take a long time to break down on their own. I mix grass clippings and other organic material along with my wood chips to help them compost. I converted my entire chicken run into a chicken run composting system, and letting rain fall on the run litter is the magic to get things composting. If you cover your run, you will have to water it yourself with buckets of water or a hose. The material you want to compost should have the consistency of a wrung out sponge.

Dry wood chips would take forever to compost. Like, maybe years and years. So mix in a bunch of greens and water them down.

Wood chips will rob the soil of nitrogen if you mix not-fully composted wood chips into the soil. You can use partially composted wood chips as top mulch, and they will eventually break down into soil. If you don't have time to let the wood chips fully compost, then using them as top mulch to suppress weeds is a great option. Over time, sitting out in the garden, the wood chips will break down and turn into soil.

Thank you for that. This is what I’m after with my run too, despite it being very small, it should be enough compost for my tiny garden.
I love how Justin Rhodes and Edible Acres use their chicken systems, and hope one day to do something similar.

 

[theoldchick]

I have three chickens coops. Two are covered and one is not. If you don't have a covered run make sure there is plenty of drainage in that area. Otherwise you'll end up with soupy, poopy mess. Honestly, I prefer the covered runs since I remove the shavings and put them in the recycle pile to be either burned or used for erosion control.

 

[DaveMK]

I have three chickens coops. Two are covered and one is not. If you don't have a covered run make sure there is plenty of drainage in that area. Otherwise you'll end up with soupy, poopy mess. Honestly, I prefer the covered runs since I remove the shavings and put them in the recycle pile to be either burned or used for erosion control.

Thanks for your reply.
We've had a few heavy downpours so far, and the wood chip has absorbed it all without any pooling issues.

One mistake I made was to feed the chickens cut branches/leaves from harvested chilli plants. The branches were too long, and seem to have caused matting.
I came to this conclusion after reading on another thread not to feed/introduce longer branches/sticks.

For now I'll stick with uncovered, as I'm hoping to harvest this bedding as a top mulch/compost for my chillies in late spring.

 

[SmiYa0126]

I would cover at least a portion, close to their coop so they have a place to hang out when it's raining.

 

[DaveMK]

I would cover at least a portion, close to their coop so they have a place to hang out when it's raining.

Thanks. I should have stated, my coup provides shelter over one end of the run, plus I added a section of polly to shelter the dust bath.