Pekins

[mommachick]

Hi
I am new to chicken keeping and have 5 bantams.
We are in the process of building them a new run and I want to know what the best floor covering is for them.?
I know they don't like it too muddy.
We are hoping to put them on gravel (bit larger than pea gravel) slabs and grass.
Will the gravel be okay?

Thanks your help would be great.
Alison

All chickens love to peck at grass and insects, grubs etc, so a run that is portable, on grass, is the best thing. They soil their own area pretty quickly so gravel would be just about the worst thing!

Hi Kidowner,
Just been looking on the Poultry keeper and lots of people on there use gravel...am hoping it will be okay as don't want to have to get it all up. They will still have some grass so hopefully they will be happy.
The good thing about gravel is you can clean it and turn it over.

Hi,welcome to chicken keeping!We have 3 hybrids and 2 pekins and use woodchip on the bottom of our run and aubiose in the house.I have wondered about gravel as well but it seems a bit hard adn boring but am ready to be convinced.

We let ours free range in the whole of the garden in winter and just a section in the summer

We have two little Pekins and they are free range and nest in the barns. They do not like getting their feathery feet wet but cope fine when they do (like today when it is chucking it down.)
Are you able to move your hen run regularly or is it fixed? They would be better on grass than gravel. Bantam Pekins become very tame and do very little damage in the garden - can you let them roam in the garden then put them into their henhouse at night?

All chucks originate from Jungle fowl so used to scratching about in vegetation under the shade of trees. The egg yolks are wonderfully orangey the more greens they consume. So a portable, partly shaded run is ideal, also prevents a build up of worms in the gut. You also fertilise the ground as you go.

I don't know what is under your gravel, is it drainable or concrete? Personally I'd never use gravel as the droppings would make it yucky and smelly (depends how big the run is) and difficult to clean or compost. And give them very little to eat. But chucks do like to have grit in their diet for hardening the egg shells.

The gravel is drainable I would say the area is about 10ft x 15ft it will have mostly gravel then a row of slabs. Then a grassed are probably about 4ft x 10ft.

Hopefully once we have finished the run we will be able to secure the rest of the garden so that we can let them free range when we are around. I agree the Pekins do appear very friendly and are certainly getting used to my 3 children and their various friends!! Oh and our collie who is behaving herself around them!
Although one of them is a right madam she enjoys giving us the odd peck!

All this advice is great thanks everyone.