Using pea gravel in coop and as a patio

krbowman

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May 11, 2021
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Hello! I have a question hopefully someone here is familiar with! I am wanting to use pea gravel as a patio in my yard, and potentially in the run as well. How do you keep the gravel clean? My chickens free range for about half of the day so I want to make sure the patio I make can be easily cleaned as well. We’re trying to avoid cement and I know pea gravel is a fan favorite for runs. Any advice would be appreciated!
 
Gravel cannot be kept clean. Poop filters down into it, hardening into a cement-like mass that REEKS every time it gets wet. It is also very hard on the chickens' feet, potentially contributing to bumblefoot.

The gold-standard for chicken runs to prevent mud and odor is coarse wood chips, the sort you get from a tree-trimming company but many people use other things -- wood shavings, straw, pine straw, or, if it can be kept absolutely dry and will be regularly scooped, sand. :)

I'm afraid I can't help about the patio. I don't like gravel myself because I like to go barefoot.
 
Dunno where you saw this, but I can't say I've seen too many coops using gravel. The two most common I've seen is wood chips or sand

Agreed. There's almost no one here who would recommend gravel. Can't be cleaned, can cause odor and foot problems. My run is deep litter with a base of wood chips.

I do let my chickens dig around in my gravel because it's something different for them to do but that's like 15 minutes a day, and I actively follow them around with a pooper scooper the entire time.
 
I'm chuckling because I have half ton of pea stones in my yard. They were on my tar and pea stone roof until we got a new roof this week. The only reason I'd use it in the run is to help with drainage under the mulch. I use the deep litter method.
 

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