what is the best way to take care of run under the coop

[jomanas]

I'm new to chickens and have 3, 10 week chickens now. I take great care keeping inside the coop clean, which is easy with a sliding tray, but am not quite sure what I should do for the attached run. Should I put anything on the dirt, like sand? Do I need to rake it up if so how do I take care of the section under the house?
I want to build an extended run next to this, attached to the run door, but need to figure out what kind of maintenance is involved with this dirt run before deciding what kind of design for the extended run. Im open to suggestions.

 

[naughty girls]

I rake mine out daily... that way they dont track it in their nests. Mine is about 8 x 12

 

[Yay Chicks!]

I have a very large sweet gum tree in my yard so I save the fallen leaves and add the dried out leaves over time to the run. The chickens love to peck through them, scattering them throughout the run and churning them into the dirt along with their poop. I've only raked the run a couple of times in over a year. Sometimes I shake some DE about as well...

 

[naughty girls]

what is DE?

 

[Yay Chicks!]

Oh, and

!!!

 

[Jloeffler]

I just rake up the dirt, basically mixing dirt and poo back together, once a week or more frequently is it's been rainy. Water + poo = bad smell!

 

[HortenseCumberbatch]

Ditto, what is DE?

 

[Eznet2u]

Diatomaeceous Earth

 

[Eznet2u]

Many great benefits for you and your Birds.

 

[HortenseCumberbatch]

Wow. I just looked it up on Wikipedia and other pages. It sounds like amazing stuff with so many uses. Good for your birds, as well as a stabilizer in dynamite!