what do you do with the out door run once the grass is gone

[FrozenCanadian]

You can put sand in your run. My run is rather small (50 sq.ft.) and in order to have about 4 to 5 inches of sand inside it, I shovelled in about 600 kilos (1 300 pounds) of sand.

Then, you could make a big campfire and the next day, dump all the ashes inside.

It's a very interesting way of doing things because the run is clean, it is easily cleaned and you don't lose feed in a huge mess.

I now simply throw the feed all over the run. Thus, the hens walk around, scratch, hunt and peck and sort of "work" for their food. For the sake of variety, I also throw in a few handfuls of grass clippings, clover and other good stuff.

The hens can also enjoy dust baths.

 

[chickenlover89]

I'd put sand in the run. It will build the run up which will keep the run from being a mud hole when it does rain. Plus, the chickens can take a dust bath. Then as mentioned add some leaves to the run in the winter months.

i have sand in my run too! it works great! Also,, they get their grit from it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[jab91864]

I put all the leaves I rake from the yard in the fall and spring in the run. The girls break it up in no time with their constant scratching. During the summer months I put the grass clippings in there as well, along with garden foliage. What they don't eat they destroy and it becomes organic matter to later shovel out for the garden.....black gold once it cools down a bit.

I also dump the litter (I use pine shavings) from the coop into the chicken yard and rake it around, after a bit of time you can't really tell.

During the winter I put straw into the chicken yard. I place a couple bales strategically to add wind cover, the rest I break up in their yard for them to scratch around in. Eventually it all gets tilled into the garden.

 

[MsBagawkbagawk]

Hee-hee, I do the same thing, jab. I thought I was just a horribly lazy person, but that makes me feel better that someone else does it.

 

[5th lake chick]

be careful with food and water in the coop, I put them right next to each other and during the really hot weather the water that spilled turned the feed they spilled sour and 2 of my chickens got botulism. I noticed a sour smell one day and by the next day when I figured out where it was coming from and cleaned it up, it was too late. a hen and rooster 11 weeks old got sick. I managed to save the hen but we put the rooster down. I'm a rookie so may have done something else wrong too. But it was very hot those days.

 

[5th lake chick]

so you mix ashes and sand? doesn't that make a mess when it rains?

 

[erinszoo]

We keep feed in the house like others have said but we put wheat straw in the yard. It helps "compost" everything and the girls love to scratch in it for the wheat that's left. When we mist the yard to keep them cool, it holds in the moisture and then the girls scratch for the bugs and worms that come up in the dirt. The only things we feed in the yard are vegie scraps, crab grass, and scratch.