Chicken Run Flooring That Stays Dry Through UK Winters

Key Takeaways

• Seasoned hardwood chip laid 100mm deep is the best chicken run flooring for most British gardens, because it drains and stays dry on top, which keeps mould and disease down.
• A chicken run floor only works on ground that drains, so a run that floods needs a fall of 1 in 80, or a gravel channel down its lowest side, before any surface goes down.
• Sharp sand at 10 to 15cm is a sound chicken run floor under a roof, because droppings scoop out like cat litter and the hens dust bathe in it, but it packs hard and cold in an open run, where the rain keeps it wet, especially on clay.
• Play sand is too fine for a chicken run or a dust bath, so the sand for a run floor is sharp sand (also sold as grit sand).
• Gravel of any size is hard to keep clean as a chicken run floor, because droppings lodge between the stones, so most keepers keep it for the drainage underneath.
• Bark chippings are used by many keepers on a wet run, but bark soaks up more water than wood chip and goes mouldy more readily.
• Straw is used by some keepers who change it often, but it rots once it gets wet and its hollow stems give red mite somewhere to live.
• A chicken run needs at least 1m² per hen, and 2m² is better, because crowded birds fight, stress and lay fewer eggs.

I was called out to look at a chicken run where the owner had started losing the battle with the ground beneath it. They’d put the run up on a decent patch of lawn in the previous spring, but by the time I arrived, the grass around the pop hole had long since disappeared and the rest was turning into a muddy quagmire. It was particularly bad after rain, with the hens scratching away at the wet ground and making an already poor surface worse by the day. Having spent fifteen years dealing with gardens where drainage has been a problem, I recognised a familiar situation. The inexperienced owner had assumed that keeping the run on grass would be enough, but the combination of constant scratching, compacted ground and nowhere for the water to go had taken its toll. I tested the existing ground conditions before discussing a more suitable run floor, because simply covering the mud wouldn’t address what was happening underneath.

So here are the chicken run flooring ideas people have tried with varying degrees of success, from hardwood chip and sand to slabs, straw and grass, and what each one looks like by February.

What Is the Best Flooring for a Chicken Run?

The best chicken run flooring in a British garden is seasoned hardwood chip, 100mm deep, on ground that drains. Sand comes second, under a roof. Most of the arguments about what to put on a chicken run floor are really about the weather. A floor that works in a covered run can be a disaster in an open run on ground that never dries. So the table below is the short version of the chicken run flooring options, and the sections after it explain the why.

Which Chicken Run Floor Suits a Covered or Uncovered Run?

A covered chicken run can take almost any floor, but outdoor chicken run flooring with no roof needs a floor that drains and dries between showers. The first thing keepers split on is whether the run has a roof, because the floor that works under cover often fails in the open. An open run costs less, can be far bigger, and lets the sun and wind dry the floor between showers, but nothing keeps the rain off it, and rain is what turns a good floor bad. Under a roof, sand stays dry and runs like a giant litter tray. Out in the open, the same sand holds every shower, packs down, and by February it is cold, hard and starting to smell sour.

Hardwood chip copes with both. Rain washes through it rather than sitting on it, the droppings dry out on the surface, and the hens keep turning it over for you. If you cannot roof the whole run, roof the end nearest the coop. That is where the hens spend most of their time, so in an open run it is the first patch to turn to mud. A clear sheet over that third of the run keeps it dry, whichever floor you choose.

There is one more reason to put something over the top, and it has nothing to do with the floor. An open-roofed run is open to owls and birds of prey, and they can take several birds in a short time. Young birds go to sparrowhawks, crows and magpies too. A net stretched over the run solves it, and it is a lot cheaper than replacing the flock.

What Should Go Down Before Any Chicken Run Floor?

Drainage goes down before any chicken run floor, because no surface survives sitting in standing water. This is the muddy chicken run flooring problem in one sentence, and it is the bit most guides skip. If water pools in your run after rain, sort the ground first:

1. Give the run a fall of 1 in 80 across its width, so water runs off rather than sitting on it. That is a drop of 12.5mm for every metre, so a 2m wide run sits about 25mm lower on one side. Rake the soil to shape and firm it down. To check it, lay a 1m straight board across the slope with a spirit level on top: a 12.5mm packer under the low end should bring the bubble level. No sub-base is needed under chip or sand.
2. Or dig a channel down the lowest side, run it to somewhere lower than the run, and fill it with clean gravel. For a bigger job, my guide on where and how to build a French drain covers the full method.
3. On heavy clay, think about a membrane under the floor. Keepers argue about this one, so I have given it its own few paragraphs below.
4. On ground that already drains, the floor goes straight onto the soil.

If the run is not built yet, you can save yourself a lot of this work. Put it on the higher, drier part of the garden, and never at the foot of a slope, where water and cold air both collect. Higher ground still needs checking: dig a hole a spade deep where the run will go, fill it with water, and if it has not gone by the next day, the ground still needs one of the steps above.

One more thing while you are down there. The patch round the drinker is where every run floor turns to mud first. Stand the drinker on a raised mesh platform (a timber frame about 80 to 90cm square, covered in welded mesh and 7.5 to 10cm off the floor) and the splashes drain away instead of soaking in. Don’t dig compost or manure into a waterlogged run to “improve” the soil, either. Organic matter in soil that cannot drain just rots. Fix the water and the floor looks after itself. My guide on how to fix a muddy chicken run shows how to find where the water comes from and set the fall.

Should You Put a Membrane Under a Chicken Run Floor?

A membrane under a chicken run floor is optional, and it only helps where the ground has a fall that carries water off the sheet. Keepers divide on this, and both sides have a point under certain conditions. The ones who use a membrane like it for two reasons. The hens cannot dig down and mix the mud back up through the chip, and a full clear-out becomes a rake rather than a dig. One keeper lays chip on a porous membrane over plastic pallets, so the water has somewhere to go and the chip stays dry on top.

The ones who took theirs out tell a different story. The hens scratched the sheet to pieces within weeks, even pinned down, and on flat clay the water sat on the membrane instead of draining through it, so the chip soaked and dried, soaked and dried, which is exactly what grows mould. The two fixes keepers use are plastic garden netting over the sheet, or slabs over the joins. A gravel floor on a membrane did worst of all: one keeper’s run was sludge after a few weeks, and she took the membrane out and moved to wood chip.

So my answer is this. On heavy clay you can lay a heavy duty weed membrane under the floor, so the hens cannot dig down and mix the mud up through the chip. It only helps if the ground slopes at least 1 in 80, because on flat clay the water just sits on the sheet. Hens will also scratch a bare membrane to pieces, so keep the chip deep enough that they never reach it.

In some situations a membrane may work and in others it will not. Even the best thought out plan gets tested by life, and we learn best through trial and error. Nothing is perfect until you understand your own conditions through experience. Just weigh up the pros and cons, and understand what you might have to do to fix the issue if it doesn’t work out for you.

Why Is Hardwood Chip the Best Chicken Run Floor?

Hardwood chip sheds water instead of soaking it up, so the surface of the run stays dry, firm and clean. Softwood and bark soak up water, which is why the word hardwood matters. Hardwood also stays firm under a scratching claw and lasts longer. Our Chicken Run Hardwood Chips are about 95% poplar, cut from the centre of the tree and screened to 10 to 30mm.

Whatever chip you use, never lay any that smells musty or shows mould. Its spores can cause aspergillosis, a lung infection with no cure, and chicks are most at risk.

At 100mm, a 3m x 2m run takes 690L with 15% for settling, which is one 700L builders bag at £144. The wood chip and bark calculator works out any other size. A deep, dry layer also gives a hen jumping off the perch a soft landing, which helps keep bumblefoot (an infected sore on the foot) away.

An ordinary 100mm hardwood chip floor usually needs a full change somewhere around six to twelve months in. If you are confident enough, you can judge it yourself and let your nose tell you when. Which woods are safe, fresh against seasoned chip, and how to keep it clean are all in my guide, Beat the Mud: Hardwood Wood Chip for a Chicken Run.

Can a Chicken Run Floor Make Its Own Compost?

It can, with the deep litter method, but the bed needs 20 to 25cm of litter to work. A deep litter bed is 20 to 25cm of chip and other dry materials, such as straw, wood shavings or autumn leaves (never oak), that the droppings break down into over the year, turned by the hens themselves. It gives off a little warmth in winter too. I recommend clearing a deep litter bed out every year, or sooner if it starts to smell. Some keepers run one for longer, judging it by smell and by the health of the flock, and it works for them.

Is Sand Good for a Chicken Run?

Sharp sand for a chicken run works well under a roof at 10 to 15cm, and badly on an open run over wet ground. Keepers who love sand love it for two reasons. The droppings sit on top and come out with a scoop, like a cat tray, and the whole run doubles as a dust bath. My guide on how to make a dust bath for chickens covers what goes in one.

The sand matters. Sharp sand (also called grit sand) has coarse grains up to 3 to 4mm that let water through. Play sand is far too fine for a run: it clumps, holds water and turns to paste. Builder’s sand or building sand is the soft kind in the UK. It contains clay, so it holds water, and you should avoid it at all costs in a chicken run.

For weights, sharp sand runs at about 1,600kg per m³ dry. A 3m x 2m run takes about 960kg at 10cm and about 1,440kg at 15cm, so two 850kg bulk bags of our Sharp Sand covers either depth. The choice between chip and sand is yours, and plenty of keepers are happy with either. My view: under a roof, sand can work great. On an open run, on wet ground or clay, I would put chip down every time.

Can You Put Gravel or Pea Gravel in a Chicken Run?

Gravel in a chicken run works best as drainage. It can work as the floor itself, but only on a base that drains fast and with regular hosing, and most keepers find it hard to keep clean.

Gravel sounds like the obvious answer to mud, and some keepers swear it fixed theirs. The ones who make it work tend to have three things in common. The gravel sits on a base that drains fast, such as a raised area, or paving with a fall and somewhere for the water to go. They hose it down every week or so, and jet it hard now and then, because droppings still build up under the surface. And there is no membrane underneath, because a sheet under gravel slows the water down when you hose it.

The ones who regret it say the droppings turned to sludge between the stones, even with regular hosing, and that it smelled and drew flies in hot weather. On ground that does not drain, hosing just washes the droppings into the mud below. The hens also scratch any chip on top down into the gravel, so you cannot clear one without the other.

So gravel is not a floor I would choose. If you already have a gravelled area that drains well, regular hosing can keep it workable. Otherwise, put the gravel where it earns its keep: in the channel along the low side, carrying water away from the run.

Can a Chicken Run Just Be Grass or Bare Earth?

A chicken run can be grass or bare earth for a while, but grass only lasts if the run is big or moved often. Hens strip the ground nearest their house first, and the bare patch spreads outward from the coop door. Grass is the best ground cover for a chicken run only while there is enough of it. It holds up when there is plenty of room per bird, or when it is split into sections and the birds are moved between them so the turf can recover. If you do rest a section, some evidence suggests resting it for about a year. That is because the eggs of the worms that live inside hens, such as roundworm, can survive in the soil for that long. These are parasites, not the earthworms hens love to eat, although earthworms can carry some of them, such as gapeworm, back into the run.

Space is the other half of this. A run needs at least 1m² per hen, and 2m² is better. Hens without enough room squabble, get stressed and lay less, and a crowded run goes bare much faster. Bare earth is fine in a dry summer and miserable the rest of the year. It cannot be cleaned and it holds the damp, so it turns to mud as soon as the wet weather sets in.

Should a Chicken Run Have Paving Slabs or Concrete?

Paving slabs or concrete make a good base under chicken coop run flooring, because nothing digs through, but they need a loose layer on top. Concrete is the floor that keeps rats out, and slabs laid tight do much the same job. A hard base can also be scrubbed and disinfected, which soil never can, so parasitic worm eggs and germs do not build up in it year after year. On their own, though, slabs and concrete are hard on the hens’ feet, cold in winter, and give the birds nothing to scratch.

You do not have to slab the whole run to get some of the benefit. A row of slabs laid round the outside stops anything digging in under the wire, and it gives you a mud-free path round the run when you check it.

Some keepers lay slabs on sand over a heavy membrane, with chip on top, and rate it a long way above bare slabs. A slab or concrete base still needs a fall, or the water sits on top and soaks the layer above it.

What Should You Not Put on a Chicken Run Floor?

Play sand, rubber chips, chips from yew or black walnut, and clippings from a treated lawn should stay off a chicken run floor, and bark is a poorer bet than wood chip.

1. Bark, for the reasons above: it holds more water than hardwood chip and goes mouldy more readily.
2. Play sand is too fine, as above.
3. Rubber chips stay out of a run altogether. They can leach chemicals, and hens peck at whatever is in their floor, so what is in the rubber can end up in your eggs.
4. Yew and black walnut are both on the list of woods to keep away from chickens. Free chip from a tree surgeon can have anything in it.
5. Grass clippings from a lawn treated with weedkiller go nowhere near a run, because hens eat what is in their floor.

What Is the Best Chicken Run Floor for Winter?

The floor that gets through winter best is the one that stays dry: a deep, topped-up layer on ground that drains, with part of the run under cover. Cold is rarely the problem in a run over winter. Wet is. Hens cope with a frost, but standing about in mud all winter means wet, dirty feet and a damp run that breeds disease. Puddles and mud holes carry parasitic worm eggs and germs, and hens that paddle in mud do not wipe their feet, so a muddy run means more cleaning inside the coop as well. Top the chip up before the wet weather starts, rather than waiting until it has gone, and keep one corner covered so there is always somewhere dry.

Autumn leaves are free run litter. Pile whole leaves into the run in autumn, let the hens scratch through them, and rake them out to the compost in spring. Leave out oak leaves, and only do it on a run that drains. Some breeds suffer on mud more than others. Cochins and Pekins have feathered feet that soak up the wet, a Silkie’s fluffy plumage does the same, and a Japanese bantam sits so low that its chest gets wet. If you keep any of those, a dry floor is a welfare matter.

Next Steps

For most British gardens, the answer is the same: sort the drainage, then lay hardwood chip at 100mm. If you would prefer sharp sand at 10 to 15cm, you will need a full roof. I would also always choose hardwood chip over bark and leave the other sands and straw out of it. Lastly, keep gravel for drainage.

We sell Chicken Run Hardwood Chips in 70L bags and builders bags, the heavy duty weed membrane for runs where the hens dig mud up through the chip, and Sharp Sand for a sand floor under a roof, all delivered nationwide. Put your run’s size into the wood chip and bark calculator to find out exactly how much you need and get an instant price estimate. If you would like to talk with us, call Outdoor Aggregates on 0330 043 7585. The office is open 7am to 7pm, seven days a week.

Have you ever laid a new floor in your chicken run? Which material did you go with, and how did it cope with its first wet winter? We would love to hear how yours has held up.

FAQs

What can I put on the floor of my chicken run?

The floor of a chicken run is best covered with seasoned hardwood chip at 100mm, or sharp sand at 10 to 15cm if the run is roofed. Both drain, stay clean and give the hens something to scratch.

Are sand or wood chips better for a chicken run?

Sand and wood chips both work in a chicken run, and the deciding factor is rain. Sand is lovely under a roof but packs hard and cold when wet, while hardwood chip copes with an open run.

Is play sand safe for chickens?

Play sand is not a good choice for chickens. Its fine grains clump and hold water, in a run or a dust bath. Sharp sand (grit sand) is the one to use.