Chicken Run Ground/ Flooring
Consider what the chickens will be doing in their run. Chickens love to free range with the ability to scratch through the grass and soil for weeds and bugs, providing both a treat and exercise. A run is meant to help them forage and dust bathe while adventuring outside within the protection of an enclosure.
Take a Bath
This is an area that they will naturally dig down to the dirt and use the sand particles to help rid themselves of bugs and prune themselves. We like to use sand with a dust bath mix in to help deter common soft bodied insects.
Foraging
If you build your coop as a chicken tractor, it allows you to move the chickens within their coop/run each week to forage on a new part of the yard. This allows them to eat the natural food and insects found and since able to move weekly, it gives the grass time to regrow before returning to the same area.
For fixed coops, it will depend on the run size. you can grow beneficial herbs on the outside of their run to eat as it grows through their fencing protecting the roots of the herbs from the chickens to scratch up. If planting inside the run area, you can use hardwire mesh to protect the roots.
Floor of the run
There are many options. Share your experiences. We like using native soil in our runs. We alternate runs as needed to allow them to recover. Rototilling the soil after moving the chickens out helps mix everything in and refreshes the top soil. We sow our sprouted sprouting mix and to scatter it through out the run. Then, use a rake to lightly over with soil. This works especially well in the rainy season to help the seeds to continue to grow. We place dust bath mix in where the chickens naturally dig holes to bathe in. We like using materials that can naturally be composted to enrich our soil. If the runs get muddy, we place wood chips or Coco Coir down on their path to their coop, feed, and waterer. In the winter, we place straw on top of the snow to help reduce any risk of frostbite.
Peat Moss Advantages
Is absorbent, reduces muddy runs. Has a low pH, which may reduce ammonia in droppings
Is free flowing (i.e., resists compaction). Is great for your garden beds if you put the peat moss out before expected rain and remove once the run is not muddy any longer.
Peat Moss Disadvantages
Does not release moisture very well. If too dusty can cause respiratory illnesses
May contain toxic microorganisms, such as bacteria and fungi. Mycobacterium avium can cause Avian Tuberculosis in chickens, which has a 100% mortality rate. These bacteria can survive for more than 6 months in bedding and up to 4 years in soil. This means that if all your chickens die and you bring new chickens in, they will likely die too if exposed to the same run.
May contain fertilizers or other chemicals that may be toxic to your chickens. One study found that weakly decomposed sphagnum peat contained more endotoxins than better decomposed peat (Airaksinen et al., 2005). However, the better decomposed peat had more mold.
Avoid peat that contains larger grained particles (4+ cm) which can cause swollen foot pads in your birds
Coco Coir helps satisfy the concern of dust and toxins.
Pea Sized Gravel Advantages
Chickens naturally consume small pebbles to help digest their food. Gravel can easily be cleaned off by spraying it or letting the rain clean it.
Pea Sized Gravel Disadvantages
Can be significantly hotter in the summer time causing foot burns if not shaded.
Wood Chip Advantages
Has a great pine smell and removes the concern of a muddy run. Is natural and will decompose over time.
Wood Chip Disadvantages
Slivers can cause bumblefoot. The bark chips have fewer sharp edges compared to wood chips
Natural ground/ Soil Advantages
Free and low cost to maintain.
Organic.
Able to plant and rotate runs easier.
Healthy soil and grass provide comfort in the hot summer months.
Natural ground/ Soil Disadvantages
Pesticide history knowledge might be unknown. Make sure there the ground does not have any pesticide (weed killer, ants, ect) residue. The normal ground is usually fine as long as it is free from pesticides and the run is big enough that their droppings do not stay on the top of the ground for long periods of time, ensure feed does not create mold on the ground, that the ground appears to be in healthy condition.