What do you have in your chicken run?

[paellisinOKLA]

My wife and I are in disagreement over the “floor” of our chicken run. She’s of the mind that we should use some form of wood chips and I think we either go “Au natural“ or spread a sand mix. Any ideas for this newbie?

 

[Kdlevesque]

I actually prefer straw in my run floor. I’ve used shavings too but I always go back to the straw. Chickens can be smelly but straw helps keep the smell down and my chickens love digging in it.

 

[Starburst]

My wife and I are in disagreement over the “floor” of our chicken run. She’s of the mind that we should use some form of wood chips and I think we either go “Au natural“ or spread a sand mix. Any ideas for this newbie?

I like keeping my chicken run all-natural, but there are some downsides to that, so I may have to change it to something else. If you have nice dirt that isn't going to get packed down and turn into clay, and if it's more dry, I find dirt to be amazing. Chickens can just pick their spot for a dust bath and they can scratch about like they would in a forest. However...at least for me in WA, it rains...a ton, which leads to a muddy run and chickens standing in water. Not something you want. So if you live where it's wet, you may want to go for wood chips. Heres a link to the thread about ways to keep a chicken run from getting muddy: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/keeping-a-chicken-run-from-getting-muddy.1385104/
If you have a covered run...great! As I said, my personal favorite is dirt, but all of the options are good.

 

[3KillerBs]

Deep litter -- a mix of shavings, pine straw, straw, fall leaves, etc. The whole cold compost/forest floor business.

It worked so well in my in-town coop -- never an odor problem that another layer of pine straw couldn't fix -- that I'm duplicating it here on the new property with a foundation layer of aged wood chips.

 

[aart]

If you just want to break down the poops so they don't stink,
wood chippings is the way to go.
Sand can get stinky when damp and takes quite a bit of weekly, if not daily, maintenance of picking up the poops.

My runs have semi-deep litter(cold composting), never clean anything out, just add smaller dry materials on occasion, add larger wood chippings as needed.
Aged ramial wood chippings are best IMO.