What do y’all use on the run floor? Why?

[Estrella77]

Organic materials - For the roofed run it's a deep DRY bedding system consisting of arborist wood chips and pine shavings bedding - it stays dry and I add material several times per year. In the exterior run I keep the ground moist as a deep moist litter system, using arborist wood chips, leaves and rakings, green waste, etc. and it's basically a big compost pile for the chickens to forage through daily when they're not free-ranging.

I like these deep dry bedding and deep moist litter system because there's hardly any chores and maintenance aside from adding more material and occasionally cleaning it out (once every 1-1.5yrs or so). Haven't noticed any issues with my setup such as smells, water retention, pests, etc. In the roofed run, I'll rake the chunks to the side and scoop out the fines from underneath and transfer that material to my compost bins to get it nice and hot before using in the garden. In the exposed run I am now at a point where I can harvest the topsoil underneath, for gardening.

This may be a silly question, but is there any reason not to regularly throw weeds in the covered run from the garden? My grass in there is getting so sad and brown, and I have no shortage of weeds. Should I just put big piles in there whenever I weed? Is there any reason not to do this? My chicks are only 10 weeks old. Their food is kept inside the coop so I don't know if this will discourage them from eating the full amount of feed they need?
If tons of weed piles are fine then my chickens will be so happy I think I took them some today and they loved sifting through it.

 

[Estrella77]

As for the original post question, I have been told that wood chips work well from a friend. We have a wood chipper and lots of downed branches all the time from the yard so when we run out of grass we plan to use chips from our sticks. I'm hoping that works! What did you decide on?

 

[skeeeter]

Depending on what weeds, and if they are seedy or haven't run to seed yet. I put most non-seedy garden weeds into my run except dog fennel and ragweeds.

 

[StinkyAcres]

This may be a silly question, but is there any reason not to regularly throw weeds in the covered run from the garden? My grass in there is getting so sad and brown, and I have no shortage of weeds. Should I just put big piles in there whenever I weed? Is there any reason not to do this? My chicks are only 10 weeks old. Their food is kept inside the coop so I don't know if this will discourage them from eating the full amount of feed they need?
If tons of weed piles are fine then my chickens will be so happy I think I took them some today and they loved sifting through it.

Besides making sure the weeds are not toxic, if there are long stems and leaves I would not put them in the run without being held/tied to something heavy. The chickens need to be able to tear off small pieces. When chickens ingest long stems their crops can get impacted.

 

[rosemarythyme]

This may be a silly question, but is there any reason not to regularly throw weeds in the covered run from the garden? My grass in there is getting so sad and brown, and I have no shortage of weeds. Should I just put big piles in there whenever I weed? Is there any reason not to do this? My chicks are only 10 weeks old. Their food is kept inside the coop so I don't know if this will discourage them from eating the full amount of feed they need?
If tons of weed piles are fine then my chickens will be so happy I think I took them some today and they loved sifting through it.

Weeds are fine though you obviously want to avoid anything that's noxious or invasive that you're trying to get rid of in your environment.

If you're planning to use the run litter as compost for the garden I might recommend against it, as the compost might end up sprouting a lot of weeds if you get a lot of seeds in there.

 

[EmmaDonovan]

Our run is just desert dirt. It can flood in a big storm even though it's in one of the higher parts of the yard.

There are cinder blocks and bricks in the run for them to stand on and move around so they can stay out of the water and mud.

Storms don't last long and the desert sucks up moisture super fast so it dries out quickly.

 

[georgiashens]

I live in south Louisiana so it’s hot and occasionally very very rainy. The run has some grass left in it but it won’t be long until it’s all gone.

What do y’all use on the floor of the run? And why do you prefer it?

I use bark chips because they are quite cheap and easy to obtain, the rain/hose washes away poop but not the bark and it never smells. They don’t last too long though and they are constantly kicked out of the coop so now I have a boarder of chips around the coop which isn’t the most attractive

 

[kalamazootx]

I just bought peat to put in the run and plan to put wood chips over it. Will this be ok? I live in Texas with high heat and humidity and some rain. I have 5 chickens. Of course all the grass is gone now.

 

[paintedChix]

I live in south Louisiana so it’s hot and occasionally very very rainy. The run has some grass left in it but it won’t be long until it’s all gone.

What do y’all use on the floor of the run? And why do you prefer it?

Even w/ the humidity here, my open air coops are open to the ground. So we use DLM. I've not always been able to get wood chips, but use chips, shavings, sawdust, hay, straw, leaves, yard & garden debri, pine straw, PDZ & Dry stall (horse stall products), shredded paper/cardboard.

The main thing is to either vary the materials or utilize materials of different sizes. This allows for aeration which works to dissipate the scent as well as to allow poop to disintegrate or decompose - aerobically. All same size (especially hay, pinestraw & fresh mowed grass clippings) material can make stink worse as can pack down & become anaerobic- no oxygen & slimey.

If it's wet & stinky, it needs more material. Usually I will just dump materials & allow the chickens
to spread it.

Here are some of the applications of DLM I've used.

DLM

 

[paintedChix]

Right now i just have sand/dirt but with all the rain half of it is no longer there.
So im going to get some construction sand(also called river sand and a few other names) its suppose to do well in wet areas.

If rain has washed it out, address that 1st. Otherwise anything you out in the run "will no longer be there".

Figure out how/ why the rain has washed it out. Repair starting outside the run. To help w/ heavy rainfall inside the run, you may need to cover it.

Then use whichever base you are wanting to use.