Rubber Chippings for the Run?

Hello Guys

I've been trying to work out which is the best flooring for the run we're building and these rubber things seem to be a good idea, except I think I'd be a bit worried that the chooks will try and eat them.

What does everyone think?  Does anyone actually use these rubber chippings and, if so, have you found them to be (1) safe for the chooks and (2) as easy to maintain as the adverts say?

Any help gratefully accepted

I don't keep chicken so please bear this in mind but we have rubber bark as a ground cover in our outdoor classroom, over weed membrane.

It still smells of rubber after two years, so much so foxes keep out of the area (not recmmending this as a means of chicken protection -- just illustrates the offensive nature of the smell to wildlife)

There are a lot of very small particles in amongst the big chippings, which might be difficult to keep clean.

OK over to chicken keeprs now 

The use of rubber chips is quite controversial on several counts.

1   Because they don't rot down they are not liked by environmentalists.  Once put down over a large area they tend to get spread and are difficult to get rid of should they need to be removed in the future.  We have a horse school which is 40m x 20m which is covered with them and removing the horse droppings is a problem as inevitably a large amount rubber also gets collected too.  Separating the rubber from the droppings isn't easy.

2  Keeping the area clean is difficult.  I suspect they are very clean and pleasant when new but difficult if not impossible to keep clean over time which might make them rather insanitary.

3  They aren't as chx friendly as natural materials like wood chip or leaves which chx love to scrat in and dust bath in.

4  There's the danger that they could be ingested and there's always some metal wire left in them though if they are procesed well there's very little.

Personally I'd prefer wood chips though these too aren't without some issues.
HF

In our run ive dug over the soil and hoed....and hoed and hoed again, last job was to go over the whole run with a soil seive removing all the big bits and stones.
The chooks love it, the soil is a lovely fine tilth and all it needs is a rake over every couple of days to level out the dust baths and turn in the droppings.