What do you do to clean the run?

[the-bird-man]

in the winter i use straw so i rake most of that up and compost it but most the year it is just dirt and every other month or so i run my tiller through it to mix it all up and to break up the compacted ground

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

I don't really do anything. All runs are dirt/sand runs so they stay pretty clean.

I add new sand in once or twice a year.

 

[Hens & Hounds]

I have sand run which I recently covered to get ready for winter & all I do is rake it every night while chickens are eating their yogurt & oatmeal before they go up the ramp to roost for night. I made a sand sifter by attaching 1/4" hardware cloth to a future fork rake w/ zip ties & use that to rake & pick up poo w/ then just dump in a 5 gal bucket & carry to compost. I occasionally add food grade DE & stir that into the sand also. The lines that the rake leave in the sand at night is also good just in case God Forbid a predator got into the run during the night you would be able to make out the tracks of what kind of predator it was (this is just me I am a paranoid person!) Makes sense to me to clean the mess of run at night when they are going to bed & won't be out there & clean the coop every morning when they are out in run as they only go into the coop to lay or roost, so outside is clean all night & coop is clean all day

Like I said that's just me...the method to my madness LOL
The south side of run by pop door (don't ask me why they have a sandbox in sand run

told you im sick! LOL

 

[JulieNKC]

Quote:
How on earth do you have grass in your run? My run is around 3x that size, they get out part of the day to free range, I only have about half a dozen more chickens than you, and have not one single blade of grass in the run.

 

[Rosaleen]

At present, I just rake the dirt floor once a week. The run has a sturdy roof so the ground doesn't really get very wet. The majority of the poop is under the tall roost and that gets cleaned up as well. Come winter and snow, I will put clear plastic along the walls of the run and cover the ground with a thick caprpet of leaves, this I will clean out in spring and put directly into the compost. The girls will spend the winter months scatching and breaking down the leaves. I have two separate areas in the 'wall unit' where the girls will be able to do their dust baths (large bins with sand, dirt, DE, and wood ash) and of course they'll be able to come and go into the coop as they please.

 

[kuntrygirl]

I have washed sand in my runs, so I really don't have to do anything. The sand takes care of everything. If the ducks fly on top of the peacock aviary and roost at night and drop a few poop bombs, I will go in and use a pooper scooper and get that mess out of there. Other than that, everything is spic and span.

 

[Hollywood Hen]

About once a year I pitch the old straw onto the compost pile and break open a new bale.

All the safe cuttings from the yard go in there, along with all the kitchen scraps. The birds keep it pretty well turned and fluffed looking for every last bit of the handful of scratch I throw in every morning, and it gets pretty well composted in place before I finish it in the bin to age out the nitrogen.

I'm way too lazy to turn my own compost pile

Put those girls to work!

 

[aoxa]

Quote:
How on earth do you have grass in your run? My run is around 3x that size, they get out part of the day to free range, I only have about half a dozen more chickens than you, and have not one single blade of grass in the run.

Well I have 12 chickens now, but the run is pretty big for all of them.. We get a lot of rain, so grass grows extremely fast. At one point I was even whipper snipping around inside it!

 

[aoxa]

Quote:
Actually - no.. Mine is grass.. For now anyways.. No sign of dirt yet, and it's been 2 months x 12 chickens.