Topic of the week - Chicken run management

[odchooks]

We have a small yard in the city so our run is 8.5x5.5 feet for 2 hens but they also have a chicken tunnel that goes out to a little sand box and gives them some more places to dig and access to more insects and other critters to eat but without taking up our whole backyard. The floor is deep litter method-dirt with a thick layer of leaf litter on top. I top off the litter with dried grass clippings or fallen leaves about once a week. If it gets too high I take out some of the bottom layer and throw it on my garden. I scout the neighborhood for leaf bags which can be found down south all year long. The chicken run also has a deep layer of mulch and grass clippings. Predator proofing is a deep trough of pebbles all the way around the half buried cinder blocks. Hardware cloth all around the run and automatic doors on the tunnel and coop. We also have a purple Martin house and the colony of martins mob all the hawks that try to come by. Helps keep them safer when free ranging. So far so good this is only month 3 with this set up.

 

[saysfaa]

- How big should you make the run/how much space per chicken?
I currently have 8 chicks (6 weeks old) in about 140 sq ft of coop/run space and I think it is just barely enough.

How do you predator-proof the run?
My run is inside the shed so the floor is plywood on joists on skids, the walls are solid boards except the metal lath covered windows and door (the eave vents are currently not predator proof but will be covered with hardware cloth as soon as I can, the roof is solid.

- How do you manage droppings build-up and how often should you clean the run? So far, I clean the dropping out of the PDZ and sand in the poop board daily and stir the deep bedding sometimes. I'm too new to know how long it will be before I need to change the deep bedding but expect (from researching deep bedding) to need to do it twice a year. Maybe less because my sq ft per hen is more than many.
- What are the best flooring/bedding materials (if any)? I don't know but a mix of PDZ, wood stove pellets, autum leaves, bark and shaving from debarking my own trees, commercial pine shavings, grass hay, lawn clippings, pine needles, and weed stems is working very well.

picture is just a small corner of their space, they saw a bug that got through the mesh and are watching for more

 

[My Very First 6 Chickens]

i have mulch in my run with hard dirt underneath. Should i be raking it, or maintaining the mulch in run?

Wow, this post is from soooo long ago! You should see the robust run now a days. Besides the floods from all the rain!

 

[My Very First 6 Chickens]

i usually have about 100 chickens on my property (more fluctuating when it’s an especially cold year), and they have about an acre of predictor proofed land to wander around in during the day. at night, they all sleep inside the house

I would love that!

 

[thecatumbrella]

Chiming in with my 2025 responses!

- How big should you make the run/how much space per chicken?

I'm now a firm believer that 10x20 (or something similar) is the minimize size needed for keeping chickens in confinement full-time. It allows for multiple areas of interest, visual blocks, and redundancies for food/water. However, I would not keep more than 6-8 large fowl in the space, and only if they have the temperament for it.

- How do you predator-proof the run?

1/2" vinyl-coated hardware cloth with wall supports every 18". This includes a 24" skirt at the base of the run. Hot wire if you have bears.

- How do you manage droppings build-up and how often should you clean the run?

We poop scoop at least twice a day in our covered run, then change out the medium entirely twice a year.

- What are the best flooring/bedding materials (if any)?

Undyed pine mulch is decent, but needs a lot of upkeep (see above) to stay sanitary and prevent flies. We're thinking of switching to something called "rice stone". The chickens have a test box in their run. They love scratching in it, it's soft underfoot, and it dehydrates droppings on contact.

 

[BDutch]

- How big should you make the run/how much space per chicken?

Depends on the size and breed. Calm and friendly chickens need less space than game or flighty breeds. The bigger the run, tbe better for the soil and their health. My run is 15m2 net covered and 1.5 m2 roof covered for 8 bantams. Possible, not optimal. Thats why I let them free range too.

- How do you predator-proof the run?

A combination of hwc, fine maze chicken wire, where possible in the ground too. Tiles on other places against digging.
On top strong netting.

- How do you manage droppings build-up and how often should you clean the run?

Adding wood clippings from pruning and autumn leaves to compost. I rarely clean the run. Only pick up poop after a long dry and warm period. There are bushes in the run that grow well on the rich ground.

- What are the best flooring/bedding materials (if any)?

Soil, healthy soil with organic material , worms and other soil life in the net covered run.
Sand in the small roof covered run. The chickens don’t poop in there.