Need ideas for run (mud issue)

Date sort Score sort
I love my manual no electric mower. I literally go out to my backyard while I let the dogs out, mow about 20 feet and give the catcher full of grass to the girls. I can do this in less than 2 minutes. Since my husband cuts grass with his JD riding mower without bag, I bought an electric mower with bag initially but dragging around the cord was a hassle. It's been raining here as well but the girls still got their greens whenever rain stopped. I wish we didn't have so many hawks around but I found a way to get pastured eggs! Combination of dry straws and grass is the best I found for my run. You should also try to raise the run ground level or dig a trench around to divert or drain water away from the run as much as possible.
 
Last edited:
Quote: This whole yard runs on an angle (higher end is on the right, lower end is on the left, runs right down into a little creek behind the property), so there really isn't an option of digging a trench the clay (we have red clay here) would be horrible. There is some back dirt "dusting" on the surface I think they put in so the grass would grow but when you dig down it's just clay throughout this entire yard, front and back, ick.

I was trying to see if I had a picture that would give you an idea, but I don't have any that are great with the coop already built. I only have closer up pictures of the entire run and coop.

I'll definitely try to see about the bag. We have a riding mower because the property is over an acre of nothing but hills (we're kind of in a "valley" on this property, the street is higher than the property is), push mowing isn't safe.
 
I'm in TN so I know,all about red clay + rocky terrain. You don't need to dig too deep to help divert the rain. Just the sod deep will still help.
 
Beware giving copious amounts of fresh grass cuttings, they can gorge on them and impact the crop.

I use a riding mower(ancient JD) with side discharge, I leave the grass go long then pattern my cutting swaths to spread out the cut grass,
let it dry(was lucky to have a couple weeks of dry weather) then rake some up and use that in the run.
 
Impacted or sour crops can happen with long grass. The grass I feed my chicken are about 1-2 inches or usually less since I mow in the same general area. The short grass strands are safer than chickens free ranging on long grass where the long strands can wind into a big ball in the crop. Drying your own grass for bedding can be useful, if they can be dried (as in hay), weather permitting, before becoming compost. I love giving my girls fresh grass because it's live nutrition, much the same as people benefit from raw food. They always get some live small bugs in the pile as well since manual grass mower cut, not mulch. I keep the lawn area organic, and a few times grass hoppers ended up in the run with the grass, and the girls went nuts. Definitely a good idea to not overdo on grass though, because the run can get yucky out of balance if girls don't eat most. In my case, daily grass catcher full is perfect.
 
Last edited:

Similar threads

K
Poop, mud, and more poop!
2
Replies
14
Views
1K
countryladyNH
countryladyNH
D
Muddy run -- flooring help/suggestions
Replies
1
Views
430
azygous
azygous
SuperC
    • Like
Building my run; what’s the best Sand Method?
Replies
2
Views
1K
SuperC
SuperC
N
Mud glorious mud (not)!
Replies
1
Views
344
rosemarythyme
rosemarythyme
R
**help***Can someone please help with sorting out lime use
2
Replies
12
Views
844
RememberTheWay
R

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom