Omlet Smart Autodoor - New in box

[maxjam]

My ongoing quest to 'fix' our 30ft x 30ft run is turning into a bit of a nightmare!

 

It used to be a lovely green area but soon turned to soil, and being a heavy clay soil has over the winter turned into what can only be described as The Somme! The chickens seem happy enough but I doubt it can be too good for them long term.

 

I would need 2.5 to 3 tonnes of woodchip to fill the area and thats proving very expensive so how about gravel?

 

The gravel is seemingly a lot cheaper to buy but do chickens enjoy/thrive with a gravelled run?

 

I plan on laying enough so that its 2-4in deep and hosing it down once a week to clear the poo etc. Will this provide an enjoy living environment for them or will it leave me with 'depressed chickens' or other long term problems?

[Tweety]

I had the same problem and, after much experimentation, have found that a combination of the 2 has worked very well. I put down a thick layer of gravel to aid drainage, and covered that with a thick layer of woodchip. I know that doesn't help you very much, although it might mean that you need less of the expensive woodchip, but it has been down for some time now and is holding up very well. I'm not sure that the hens would really enjoy gravel on its own all the time.

[Redwing]

Many tree surgeons are happy to find someone to take their woodchip, they often give it away if they are passing by your way anyway

[Egluntyne]

Unless your drainage is good, you may end up with a stinking mass underneath the gravel. A friend of mine had this happen. It was very expensive mistake.

[bouldercroft]

I have my and run on a gravel path near the house. I moved the to the basement door for easy access in the winter and crazy snow.

So far so good - but my gravel path is a combination of big chunks of crushed stone topped with gravel and then I added lots of woodchip for the girls to rummage in - but there are areas where they dig down to the crushed stone. I just rake it over occasionally...

 

so far so good...but it's very well drained so that's probably helping