Run questions

[2022chickenmom]

Hi there,

We are first time chicken people and love our girls so much. We are planning to put our ladies on the side of the house in a 7 foot run with an omlet coop. We plan to pull back gravel to install a predator apron with 4 feet 1/4 inch hardware cloth. We will use the gravel we pulled back to layer over the apron.I have a couple questions:

1) can the gals have a bit of gravel in their run if we can’t manage to get all of the pulled back? There is some dirt beneath the gravel.

2) should we bury hardware cloth under the run?

3) should we layer some sort of bedding or something in the run atop the mix of dirt and bits of gravel that will be there?

 

[Obsessed With Silkies]

Hi! Welcome to BYC! I'm not an expert at your questions but I can answer a few of them. It should be fine for them to have some gravel in their run. Do you mean rocks when you say gravel? If so then yes. Burying hardware cloth underneath the run, it's really up to you how safe you want your chickens to be. If the run is mainly dirt they should be fine. If they do get a chance to free range that would be really good. It will teach them to forage and they're not always walking on their own poop. It also may help prevent bumblefoot.

 

[MadGardener]

I'd be afraid of foot injuries burying wire inside the run. Once grass and weeds have been destroyed, your run is likely to turn into muddy poop. Or poopy mud. Many folks like the "deep litter" method. Basically composting in the run.

Use the search button to the top right and click on "Articles" for more info.

 

[jreardon1918]

Chickens love to dig. We have a hole in our run that is almost 1 foot deep. We fill it in and the girls dig it up. I would skip HW cloth "under" the run. As to some gravel spilling in. The girls will help you redistribute it.

 

[SeaCity]

We didn't put in hardware cloth under our run due to worries about injuries to their feet, that made rats very happy. Now there is hardware cloth ( covered with wood chips) all is well!

 

[rosemarythyme]

1) A little bit of gravel shouldn't hurt anything, but I would remove as much as feasibly possible.

2) I would not have hardware cloth or any wire under a run. It's difficult to put enough litter over it to prevent the birds from digging down to it, as they can easily dig down a foot or more. A properly installed apron should keep rats and mice at bay. A good example: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/new-coop-project.1169916/page-2#post-18481208

3) In most cases it's advisable to have some form of litter in the run to help minimize odor and mud issues. Deep litter and sand are probably the most popular choices, but what will work for you depends on factors such as climate, maintenance schedule, etc.