arrrrrg more mud !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[chews chooks]

i live in the midlands of england its absolutly always rainin and my chucks are always discustinly dirty and muddy. i was wandering whar i could put into my birds run to stop the ground turning into a mudbath every time in rains pleeeeeeeeeeeeees help

 

[Judy]

Raising the run might be your only solution. Could you possibly add rocks, or build a barrier around it and fill it in with sand? Here's a good article on the problem:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/how-to-fix-a-muddy-run-chicken-coop

 

[chews chooks]

thx has any one got any other solutions or aucces stories

 

[Oregon Blues]

My runs are completely covered, top and sides to keep the rain from getting in.

if your problem is water running in across the ground from higher up and not water from the sky, then you are going to have to ditch, raise the runs, or move the runs.

 

[Life is Good!]

If you cannot raise the run, you could dig a trench around the perimeter of the run for the water to run away from the chicken yard area. If the trench is filled with gravel, it become a dry river-bed type set-up to direct the water where you want it to go.

We've used plastic pipe as a drain around one side of the barn (the high side) to direct the flow of water to the places WE want the water to go - instead of inside the barn! The pipe is corregated black perferated pipe from the home store - dug in a trench twice as deep as the pipe is round - filled with small 'pea" sized gravel and laid in the middle of the gravel (so the pipe is buried in gravel). Works well.

We attached the other end of the pipe to a dry-well - think large rubbish bin buried underground - the bin is bottom-less and laid in more gravel, so the collected water drains away deep underground instead of sitting on the surface. Don't ask me to shovel any more gravel this year!

By doing this, the water runs away from the chicken run - however, our layers have eaten ALL available greenstuffs to hold the mud at bay. So, come warmer weather, we're constructing 'green boxes' - a 8'x3' raised bed area (think garden bed) likely made out of 2x6" timbers - with hardware cloth stapled over the top of it. Sprinkle in the grass seeds of your choice, and the grass grows through the hardware cloth to be tasty treats for the chickens - but they cannot get to the roots to dig up/kill the plants. I've also thought about re-seeding the yard by limiting their access to certain areas - like a rotating pen idea - but don't favor that concept because I want the chickens to have as much space as possible. If I let them range, the hawks come to watch. That makes me nervous!

I'm hoping to construct 6 or 8 'green boxes' as their run is large - and placing wood chips as mulch so that there isn't as much mud. But please know, you're not the only muddy chicken owner! I don't like rubbing mud off their eggs - because someone had dirty feet in the nestboxes!

 

[chews chooks]

what does everyone think about rubber chippings in the run iv seen a huge bag of them on ebay i was just wandering if it was worth it do they work and wat affect will it have on my hens

 

[canesisters]

I suppose it would be fine unless they eat it.

 

[skyblu]

aarrgggh!! I just typed a long reply then accidentally deleted it!!

so in short:

I'm in Devon and it's horribly muddy here too! so was looking today at those rubber chippings...looks like an effective idea but I don't know what the cost is like - compared to say bark chippings, laid in the same way over weed suppressing membrane. I know bark doesn't have the same waterproof qualities but it may be cheaper (?) what sort of area do you need to 'make good'? my coops open directly into the orchard where my girls free range and around their coops and feeding area it is a nightmare! so I'm looking at how viable it is to do a small part of a larger area...or will it all just get too kicked about? I have ducks in the same area which really doesn't help!!

 

[chews chooks]

well i havnt realy messured it its a home made run with no roof hence the mud i think its about 3 metres by 1 or 2 I put some wood down in the run to help it did for about a week you cant see it anymore then i put some wood chippings down and it rained that night so they didnt help and im hoping that because of the layers iv alwready put 2 layers down the ruuber wont sink

do u know any success stories of people using this stuff

 

[Life is Good!]

A local museum I worked for uses the rubber chippings around their outdoor tank displays.

While it does seem to allow water to drain well, the individual pieces make a mess of the lawn care equipment (gets caught in the blades periodically). The rubber does leach chemicals into the ground, as the groundskeepers vainly try to maintain grass surrounding the area - but it all appears 'burned' after a heavy rainstorm. The rubber pieces also get tracked in shoes for quite some distance.

Personally, if I knew my chickens would NEVER be near the stuff, this is a product which might be useful. However, even the thought of one chunk of rubber in my hen's crop - no way!

What about a rubber 'tile' that is sold for the same purpose - but it's whole. Here's a product sample for you to work on finding more locally:
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc...3&langId=-1&keyword=rubber+tile&storeId=10051