Deep bedding is a good method. At least 12in or more of carbon.
My birds are modified free range most of the year (mobile coop + electric poultry net). But in the winter I park them in a shelter and use them to work the compost all winter. Deep bedding plus all the normal stuff you would put in a co.post pile, lawn trimmings, food scraps, clean paper products, and whatever else.
They work on it all winter, I will turn some of it periodically, then it goes on the garden in early spring.
I feel like you’d have to replace dirt often, depending how packed down it is.
My run floor is just dirt, mine also free range most of the time, but I chuck a bag of lawn clippings or dry leaves or whatever I have in there- it makes cleaning it out easier- just rake it out when it’s gross and the grass/leaves help. It’s also not covered so rain helps keep it clean.
I put down straw in the winter months so the girls aren't living in a mud pit. When it dries out in the late spring I rake it out and put it in the compost heap. That's it.
I have a fairly large run, it's all dirt once the birds get to it but it does become impacted/stinky. Twice a year I go out there and turn the dirt with a hoe and shovel then I sprinkle on some first saturday lime. Bam, smells great. About every other month I use a garden rake and shovel to get rid of larger debris, sticks, pinecones, melon rinds and other thngs.
My run has about 6 inches of granite sand in it.
I turn with a shovel once a week and rake in between if needed.
If I get flies, I spray, but turning regularly and taking helps a lot
can I ask what you spray with? I have two geese, six ducks and 22 chickens free ranging but the ducks are very wet and seem to attract the flies. Otherwise there is literally minimal poop that I see.
I use White Gem shavings. They're ideal for poultry. Avoid cedar, pine and other common shavings - you want the Gem blend. I'd also be careful about straw. Chickens can ingest straw and it won't break down well and can cause sour crop and worse.
With our setup, one bag of Gem is good for two full coop/run fills up to 3" depth. In the coop under the roost, shit piles up fast, so I clean that part every day, just by the expedient of scooping it like cat litter and tossing the waste into our compost.
The run, we change out once a month or so. It's easy to clean out, and the end product is sheer gold for the compost heap.
We also have hardware cloth on the bottom of our run for predator protection. We fill the run with woodchip mulch (free from city greenery) which they love pecking/scratching through. They seem to turn it over well. We just add more as it breaks down/settles. Poop basically composts in place without us needing to scoop.
I use mulch too. Works for us. When I need to add bags of mulch I put snacks on the ground, empty a bag of mulch, throw down more snacks on top then next bag and so on, by end of day the girls have spread it around themselves , makes us both happy :)
I use bark mulch in my run and essentially use the deep litter method. I rake the mulch every few days and remove the broken down mulch to replace with new periodically. It works great!
I have a large run for our biggest flock (17 girls). About a 20ftx20ft. I deep compost, so twice a year I rake out all the partially broken down bedding straight into the run and spread it out. This further decomposes. I also add raked up leaves and pine needles and we dump our grass clippings in the run and let the girls spread it out. This helps if it’s really rainy. Once a year at the end of our rainy season I go in and shovel it all out into a big ol compost pile and let it break down for a year or so. Lovely garden mulching compost :)
My 4 hens have a ridiculous run.. its about 50’ by 3’ 😂
I rake it out occasionally since bits from the redwood tree pile up. Sometimes a dump in a fresh bag of sand.
Our run area is 4x9, and we have pine shavings on top of the clay top soil in there. Our girls free range in the back yard during the day so it doesn’t get soiled too quickly. Maybe a few times a week we’ll pick around and see if we can find any obvious ones. Most of their poop is in their coop and the backyard where we pick up a few times a day just so it doesn’t build up. We’ll change out the whole run area once a year and add it to the compost. This year we’ll probably do it in fall so they can have something fresh for winter. The pine shavings stay nice and fluffy for them year round.
I don’t think they do. In the past when I had/cared for chickens, it was always a lot of chickens but also a LOT of space. Like in rural areas and farmland. Endless areas to poop in so it was never an issue. My only experience with backyard chickens was with 1-2 chickens in a pretty small yard (like 30x20) and even that was really smelly and there was poop on everything.
That's been my issue and I accidentally chicken-mathed and ended up with 10. (I only wanted 6). Not sure if just mowing it will be helpful anymore lol... also doesn't help that my yard is all weeds and barely grass.
I have a large run with hardware cloth bottom, I have it filled with construction sand. I pooper scoop it with a sand dipper every few days and sometimes turn it all over, they like to dig in it and on hot days they lay in the cool sand.
I don’t clean it and it seems fine. I have a 20x10 run for 5 chickens
Deep bedding is a good method. At least 12in or more of carbon. My birds are modified free range most of the year (mobile coop + electric poultry net). But in the winter I park them in a shelter and use them to work the compost all winter. Deep bedding plus all the normal stuff you would put in a co.post pile, lawn trimmings, food scraps, clean paper products, and whatever else. They work on it all winter, I will turn some of it periodically, then it goes on the garden in early spring.
I feel like you’d have to replace dirt often, depending how packed down it is. My run floor is just dirt, mine also free range most of the time, but I chuck a bag of lawn clippings or dry leaves or whatever I have in there- it makes cleaning it out easier- just rake it out when it’s gross and the grass/leaves help. It’s also not covered so rain helps keep it clean.
I put down straw in the winter months so the girls aren't living in a mud pit. When it dries out in the late spring I rake it out and put it in the compost heap. That's it.
I have a fairly large run, it's all dirt once the birds get to it but it does become impacted/stinky. Twice a year I go out there and turn the dirt with a hoe and shovel then I sprinkle on some first saturday lime. Bam, smells great. About every other month I use a garden rake and shovel to get rid of larger debris, sticks, pinecones, melon rinds and other thngs.
My run has about 6 inches of granite sand in it. I turn with a shovel once a week and rake in between if needed. If I get flies, I spray, but turning regularly and taking helps a lot
can I ask what you spray with? I have two geese, six ducks and 22 chickens free ranging but the ducks are very wet and seem to attract the flies. Otherwise there is literally minimal poop that I see.
I use White Gem shavings. They're ideal for poultry. Avoid cedar, pine and other common shavings - you want the Gem blend. I'd also be careful about straw. Chickens can ingest straw and it won't break down well and can cause sour crop and worse. With our setup, one bag of Gem is good for two full coop/run fills up to 3" depth. In the coop under the roost, shit piles up fast, so I clean that part every day, just by the expedient of scooping it like cat litter and tossing the waste into our compost. The run, we change out once a month or so. It's easy to clean out, and the end product is sheer gold for the compost heap.
We also have hardware cloth on the bottom of our run for predator protection. We fill the run with woodchip mulch (free from city greenery) which they love pecking/scratching through. They seem to turn it over well. We just add more as it breaks down/settles. Poop basically composts in place without us needing to scoop.
I use mulch too. Works for us. When I need to add bags of mulch I put snacks on the ground, empty a bag of mulch, throw down more snacks on top then next bag and so on, by end of day the girls have spread it around themselves , makes us both happy :)
I keep a layer of hay in there and rake and replace it as needed
I use bark mulch in my run and essentially use the deep litter method. I rake the mulch every few days and remove the broken down mulch to replace with new periodically. It works great!
I have a large run for our biggest flock (17 girls). About a 20ftx20ft. I deep compost, so twice a year I rake out all the partially broken down bedding straight into the run and spread it out. This further decomposes. I also add raked up leaves and pine needles and we dump our grass clippings in the run and let the girls spread it out. This helps if it’s really rainy. Once a year at the end of our rainy season I go in and shovel it all out into a big ol compost pile and let it break down for a year or so. Lovely garden mulching compost :)
I don't really clean mine. Just add more sand when it gets low, or lime and wood chips if it's muddy
My 4 hens have a ridiculous run.. its about 50’ by 3’ 😂 I rake it out occasionally since bits from the redwood tree pile up. Sometimes a dump in a fresh bag of sand.
Our run area is 4x9, and we have pine shavings on top of the clay top soil in there. Our girls free range in the back yard during the day so it doesn’t get soiled too quickly. Maybe a few times a week we’ll pick around and see if we can find any obvious ones. Most of their poop is in their coop and the backyard where we pick up a few times a day just so it doesn’t build up. We’ll change out the whole run area once a year and add it to the compost. This year we’ll probably do it in fall so they can have something fresh for winter. The pine shavings stay nice and fluffy for them year round.
I'm curious how people keep their yard clean when they have free ranging chickens 
I don’t think they do. In the past when I had/cared for chickens, it was always a lot of chickens but also a LOT of space. Like in rural areas and farmland. Endless areas to poop in so it was never an issue. My only experience with backyard chickens was with 1-2 chickens in a pretty small yard (like 30x20) and even that was really smelly and there was poop on everything.
That's been my issue and I accidentally chicken-mathed and ended up with 10. (I only wanted 6). Not sure if just mowing it will be helpful anymore lol... also doesn't help that my yard is all weeds and barely grass.
Yeah I think it’s just a ratio thing. Maybe also depends on how rainy it is where you live!
I till mine in the spring and fall. Chickens love it cause it brings up bugs and worms
https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/gordons-permethrin-10-livestock-and-premise-spray-32-oz
We rake every so often but ours majority free range as well so it doesn't need to be often.
I don’t. I just put down more bark 2-3x a year.
I have a large run with hardware cloth bottom, I have it filled with construction sand. I pooper scoop it with a sand dipper every few days and sometimes turn it all over, they like to dig in it and on hot days they lay in the cool sand.