chicken run flooring

So I’m starting to get into this whole homesteading thing and starting a flock. I’m working on getting my hand House ready and I bought a separate run in order to attach it to the hand house. The area I’ve been looking to put it on is essentially where the lateral lines are for my septic system...

Hey y'all! A couple of weeks ago we finally moved our two "og" hens to their new coop and run. The coop is a small prefab, and the run is one of those metal ones that you have to assemble; a tarp is covering one section, but we plan on getting another to cover the section their coop is under...

I put old leaves from the ground all around my property in the chicken run. These girls are THRILLED. They’ve been foraging through this all day. This is safe, right? They don’t leave their huge run, and I just realized that I may have disturbed the bacteria/biodiversity that they’re used to. I...

Hi! I'm a new chicken owner. I have six 9-week-old silkies. I just put their coop/run together. Can I leave the floor just as is, or should I put something down like mulch or sand? I heard straw is suitable for the winter. It gets pretty cold here in the winter. The picture below is of the...

On 6/25, we added this cypress bark mulch blend to our chicken's run. It seemed like a great choice, but with the issues our flock has experienced shortly after adding it, I'm worried that the "blend" part may have something bad in it. On 6/27, I checked on the hens to find Beaux (Ameraucana)...

Hi All, New chicken parent here. We began building our backyard coop and it looks great so far! However the run and coop we made over a concrete area in our yard as we just didn't have any other great spot big enough. I need advice on how we would keep the run clean, bedding etc. My husband used...

Advice needed!! any info is great My coop gets delivered July 12. it has hardware cloth all around and on the top of the run. (My husband will add a roof over the run) I’ve attached a pic We were going to lay hardware cloth underneath the entire coop/run for extra predictor protection. My...

Hello! I have a question hopefully someone here is familiar with! I am wanting to use pea gravel as a patio in my yard, and potentially in the run as well. How do you keep the gravel clean? My chickens free range for about half of the day so I want to make sure the patio I make can be easily...

Hey ! So for awhile i was putting timothy hay at the bottom of my chicken run since they’ve eaten all the grass. But I live in Louisiana so it rains almost everyday, and the timothy hay was just getting muddy and smelly. So I decided to put some sand down as well. But the sand has appeared to...

First time chicken mama. Need some reassurance or better suggestions for a few things. 1] flooring for the run I have read sand, dirt, pine shaving. What is best?? I was thinking of using a combo of all 3. Yes/No 2] Ventilation the play house has 4 windows will I need more? 3] Two roosting...

Hello. I have heard both. Yea and nay! So, what is your opinion? Can/should you put fresh mowed grass clippings in the run? I would love to hear from multiple people. Why you do or don't. Any dangers or advantages. Thanks in advance. p.s. I hope I posted in the right forum...

Hi knowledgeable folks, We are currently building an enclosed run for our 3 chickens. We have a couple of options regarding the run floor and it’s be great to get some opinions to help us decide which to go for. I’m the picture you can see the current floor which is sand and gravel where the...

We are so excited to plan our DIY coop. Reclaiming a old redwood garden bed to turn into a coop. The run will have wire below a dirt bed that will not have a roof. Should we put pavers or some other base and then add bedding?, sand? gravel + bedding material? I want to be able to clean it...

Happy Friday everyone. What do you all use on the floor in your run? Sand, woodchips etc... also, do you continue it into the coop floor or use something different? If you have any photos too that would be amazing!

I am new to chickens this year and I am looking to build a chicken run, similar to the pictures below. I currently have 5 chickens but would like to build a run that is suitable for 8. I am not very construction savy so I am hoping someone who has built something similar or who is constriction...

Hi!! First time chicken mom here to 10, 14 week old RIR’s. Right now their run is covered and the coop is inside the run. They sleep on a pallet on the roof of the coop by choice. I used pine shavings in their brooder and then in their run once they grew older and switched to hay when the pine...