What should I put down in this run for drainage?

[LolaMama]

Hey everyone, I’m building my coop and have a question about drainage and what things/order to put down in the run. It rained a lot the past few days here so I can see where the water is pooling. I’d like to put down drainage rocks and sand, and we are going to put hwc along the bottom of the run too since it’s against a fence and I would rather not have to apron on my neighbor’s property. This space used to be a garden but we wanted a garden coop, near the house, and plan to just keep 2-3 hens. (I know everyone hates the close to house idea but we live by woods and a lake so we have a LOT of aerial predators in addition to the usual forest crew.) So should we put down rock and fill with sand, then cover with pavers? Or just cloth and a bunch of sand? I would prefer sand in the run but can deal with hay or shavings if it’s much better in my situation. I’ve tried to grade it a bit so the area drains to the back corner into a French drain along the outside of the fence. We are doing a flat translucent roof with a slight pitch and little rain gutters to collect the rainwater from the roof and direct it to a rain barrel (or to the chicken’s waterer) so I’m not too worried about that. If we have layers of rock and sand to level and topped with 12” concrete paver squares tightly placed, think it would be ok? Still need the hwc on the bottom?

Thanks for any advice!

 

[Alaskan]

I would dig in a strong wire barrier around the sides that you can't apron.

At least a foot below grade... I know that sounds excessive, but a foot isn't that much when a dog is digging.

After the wire barrier.....

I would fill the ditch you made with drain rock... and I would be tempted to put a bit of typar (road fabric) over the ditch to keep dirt or sand from sifting into the drain rock.

Then fill the entire run with 3 inches of drain rock to fully cover that road fabric and to help keep the entire area drier and raise it a bit above grade..

and then you could put sand or dirt on top of the rock if you like.

 

[Alaskan]

I guess though.... on top of the typar bit, you could just fill with sand or wood chips or whatever.

I would definitely raise the bottom of the run with fill of some sort.

 

[LolaMama]

I guess though.... on top of the typar bit, you could just fill with sand or wood chips or whatever.

I would definitely raise the bottom of the run with fill of some sort.

Yea we dug a lot of the good loam soil out for a new garden and planned to backfill this one with something to help drain! Thanks so much for your help!