tinkkletoes Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 i'm thinking of upgrading the flooring / ground in my outdoor run. currently it's just earth. it was grass but they have killed that, but with all this wet weather it's more like Glastonbury on a bad day. but still trying to choose rubber or wood chippings. what have others gone with & what's the pros & cons ? any advice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat tails Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 From what I have read on here, hard wood chips are your best bet. Some say rubber chips go mushy quite quickly. Mine are on earth as well, but they have been enjoying the rain tarp quite a bit. Ground around the run is mud, in the run fairly dry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mullethunter Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 At my old house they had leaf littery earth in a small covered run. It was fine because the run was in a small very sheltered garden, and even when it got wet it was never really muddy and only took a day or two to dry out. Now I have an Omlet 3x2 WIR attached to Eglu Go plus 2m run, and the whole lot is on patio slabs and filled with hardwood chips (from Flyte So Fancy). It's brilliant. The run has a clear tarp cover and two small side covers on one corner, but with all the sideways rain over the last couple of months very little of the wood chip has actually stayed dry. Despite the fact that the chip is wet it's still a clean surface for the girls, and they seem pretty happy on it. It's been down 3 months now and no sign of having to change it yet. As I understand it the problem with rubber is that it can be difficult to keep clean and gets smelly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mollyripkim Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 Big fan of hardwood chip here too, run has roof but although water comes in at the side and the wood chip gets wet it will dry out and isn't dirty or muddy. I get a tonne delivered for around £100. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beantree Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 You may find that the supplier can't guarantee there are no needle sharp pieces of metal in the rubber. They are the remnants of high tensile steel ply in the tyres that they grind up to make the chips. Obviously they pose a serious danger to the feet of your chickens and so must be avoided. I'd go for the hardwood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinkkletoes Posted January 9, 2016 Author Share Posted January 9, 2016 would you use a weed suppressant membrane or straight onto the ground. as would the girls not dig them into the ground / mud ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mollyripkim Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 I've used plastic pallets covered with a porous membrane and then a deep layer of wood chip which means water can drain through. Because I'm paronoid about foxes we also topped the pallets with weld mesh. This is our second year of this system, after various experiments and really like it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mullethunter Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 I used weed membrane, then sand, then paving slabs then woodchip which is brilliant but a lot of work to get set up and I'm not sure it could be done in this weather. I think you'd have to put something like turf protection mesh on top of the weed membrane if you did use it though otherwise the chickens will rip it up when they dig in the wood chips. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mollyripkim Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 I found a membrane online that is used by builders and has been down two years now, it doesn't fray or tear so they haven't been able to damage it - yet! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Margaret Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 I used purple rubber when I first had my girls, many years age. Very expensive and a terrible waste of time, very hard to clean, smelly and slimey, and every now and then bits still turn up in the garden!!! Auboise fan here, but do have a covered WIR. Do use hard wood chips in the winter but havent got around to it this year, but have been very lucky with the weather so just do a big clean every month and replace Auboise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinkkletoes Posted January 11, 2016 Author Share Posted January 11, 2016 Thank you one & all & for stopping me make a very costly mistake. I'm going for a heavy membrane but with small gage chicken wire over the top so my girls don't rip the membrane in about 2 days, as this will be going down on soil, so i'm just doing the measurements & ££ as it's a large space & totally exposed to the weather Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Princess Leia Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 For what it's worth, seeing as you're in Derby, if you want hard wood chips try Eden Tree Care near Ashby. We've had a few loads from them, very reasonably priced at £30/tonne bag. http://www.edentreecare.com/logs-and-woodchip/ Just make sure you specify hard wood and say it's for chickens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mollyripkim Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 That's really good value. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinkkletoes Posted January 12, 2016 Author Share Posted January 12, 2016 Thank you for the link for Eden tree, especially as im going to be using a few tonne of chipping the girls will think it's their birthday Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
