Will hoey

[nin-chicken]

Just looking for advice. I have now purchased my 2nd hand run and cube so need to start preparing for my girls! I'm planning to use wood chipping in the run area, do I just put landscape fabric underneath or something else, or just bare earth?

Thanks

[Lavenders_Blue]

Personally I've just got bare earth. Some people put slabs down.

 

I think it depends on whether your run is covered (how saturated will the ground get?), how often you plan to dig it all out, do you get foxes or rats trying to dig into the run?

 

There are pros and cons to both.

[nin-chicken]

Thanks for your reply. It's going to be partly covered but probably uncovered at one end so that some rain will come through. Im not sure how often im meant to dig it out/change the chippings, maybe you can advise? Its an omlet walk in run so its got the anti-dig skirt so that should stop foxes. I think the holes are pretty small at the bottom so I hope that'll stop rats & mice... We'll see!

Thanks again,

Alice

[mollyripkim]

I have got my omlet WIR on a concrete base, slightly tilted so any water can run away, then a layer of stable matting (although I may do away with it next time), then the woodchip on top. I poo pick every day and use Stalostan regularly, last time I changed the woodchip after five months but it could have lasted longer. It was only because we had a skip that I took advantage of it. Bear in mind though that my girls freerange all day so the wood chip stays cleaner.

I had it completely covered in the winter with clear tarps but now is only partially covered otherwise it would be like a greenhouse, the woodchip does get wet but soon dries out.

Good luck.

[Lavenders_Blue]

I usually change the wood chippings in my run every 6-9 months. When it looks like it needs doing, basically. In between they get regularly raked over and dusted with Stalosan to keep things healthy.

 

I'd advise keeping as much of the run covered as you can. This will be my 5 winter with the hens this year and I've finally got a fully roofed run. Previously our run has been completely open to the elements and in the winter it has, quite frankly, become disgusting. It doesn't help that our soil is heavy clay which holds the water, but with the constant rain everything gets really churned up and the wood chip soon gets mashed into the mud. I'm hoping that with a roof on the in this year, we can keep the worst of the rain off and help it all stay a bit more pleasant!

[good_egg]

If you use mbrane put plastic garden netting over it to stop them ripping it up - we pinned ours down carefully but didn't do this and they ripped it up on no time! Now have slabs (their own patio) and its fab.