Having a run that was more mud than firm ground , i have been racking my brains over what to do, i cant shift the shed its 7x5 and was not good enough quality unfortunatly that it would take any moveing.
Ive heard of hardwood wood chip, but by accident i stumbled over an article on useing gravel, i read that this can be raked over disinfected etc quite easily, so is basicaly permanant.
10 to 20 mm was reccomended soi duely ordered 2 big sacks which are approx .8 of a ton i think?
Sunday i set to work and emptied one bag and this morning i used half the other one, so far i havent put it down awfully deep as they dont seem to be scratching around in it but walk and peck at it. Its smooth and not jagged so feet are fine.
I have left the area under the small coop which is an enclosed unit roof etc i use when im introduceing new hens, plus an area beside the shed thats big enough for dust baths and scratching if they realy feel the need, neither area gets walked over by people.
So im hopeing this will work out well .
We have 4 to 6 new girls arriving in about 2 weeks so its nice and fresh , i will report on how we manage with it , any experiences with this substrate from other users would be very interesting