Asphalt drive too hot?

[FEATHERFIELD]

Hello everybody,

I have a driveway question.
After the last torrential rainfall a couple of weeks ago, part of our gravel driveway washed out. We had been considering asphalt for the driveway and courtyard area between the garage and the house, thinking it would be more durable than gravel. From the top of the driveway to the courtyard is about 3-400 feet, but the courtyard is about 2500 square feet.

Now, the hens tend to leave the run and come up to the lawn and woods by the house and have to cross the courtyard area to get to the house. My concern is that asphalt gets very hot and may contain toxic chemicals (other than oil) that I am unaware of.

My question is, is asphalt bad for chickens? Should I rethink paving the driveway and just re-gravel every few years? Is there a better surface solution for driveways that are durable and safe for chickens?

Thank you so much. Any info or suggestions are welcome!

Have a beautiful day,
From
FEATHERFIELD

 

[Debbie292d]

I know that hot pavement can burn our feet, so certainly could burn a chicken.

Have you considered concrete?

 

[SnackMeat]

I would get a laser temp gun in the next couple of days and put it in your car and temp check random asphalt surfaces in your area in weather that your area normally experiences.

I used to be a dog walker and anything over 95* F is a no go for walking dogs without boots though I see people doing it. You can look up how that damages soft feet. And honestly that's including concrete. Asphalt I would take off my shoe and put my foot down. If it was too hot for me, it was too hot for the dogs.


Take a chicken who might not have as much self preservation....

The chemicals are another thing, and I'm pretty sure fresh asphalt is hotter than aged.


From a crazy project perspective, there are highways that utilize animal crossing bridges. I doubt you want to do that but a chicken wired tunnel bridge could work, if you think your's could be trained.

Or, on hot days (or once a season) setting down the plastic garden sheeting and staking down on either side of driveway. The bolt I bought was 10 feet wide and a hundred feet long and was meant to be staked down. White on one side, black on the other.


But at that point you could just paint an elastomeric path for the chickens to take. It's supposed to reflect a lot of heat and for roofs, drop inside temps 5-15*. I'm assuming the temp drop would be even higher if you were directly walking on it.

 

[SnackMeat]

Also I don't know all the terms, but have seen plastic gravel grids for driveways that get installed and hold the gravel (under the top gravel) in place to avoid ditches being formed.

 

[RoseHawke]

Can you just asphalt the drive and gravel the courtyard?

Also I don't know all the terms, but have seen plastic gravel grids for driveways that get installed and hold the gravel (under the top gravel) in place to avoid ditches being formed.

Geogrid, or Permeable Paving.

 

[SnackMeat]

Can you just asphalt the drive and gravel the courtyard?


Geogrid, or Permeable Paving.

Smaaaaaht!

 

[Not-so Slick Chicken]

Hello everybody,

I have a driveway question.
After the last torrential rainfall a couple of weeks ago, part of our gravel driveway washed out. We had been considering asphalt for the driveway and courtyard area between the garage and the house, thinking it would be more durable than gravel. From the top of the driveway to the courtyard is about 3-400 feet, but the courtyard is about 2500 square feet.

Now, the hens tend to leave the run and come up to the lawn and woods by the house and have to cross the courtyard area to get to the house. My concern is that asphalt gets very hot and may contain toxic chemicals (other than oil) that I am unaware of.

My question is, is asphalt bad for chickens? Should I rethink paving the driveway and just re-gravel every few years? Is there a better surface solution for driveways that are durable and safe for chickens?

Thank you so much. Any info or suggestions are welcome!

Have a beautiful day,
From
FEATHERFIELD

Short answer is Yes, asphalt is too hot.
(But that doesn't mean you can't use it)

*edit - this is a disjointed reply, apologies.

And in the winter when there's ice, people tend to put salt melt on it. Which can burn the feet of dogs (I assume it isn't good for chickens to walk on or eat, but haven't looked into it)
But some people do sand, I think?

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by "washed out". Did the gravel move? Or are there a lot of puddles?

I think a neighbor did some type of road base then put small gravel on top that stuck. Provides traction, looks relatively nice (until the tiny gravel was gone)

There are definitely negatives to gravel.
But you don't have to "repair" it like you do with asphalt and concrete.

Depending on what your setup is, or what you're looking for, you could do a "border" around all the gravel area to hold it in. Some people like that look. (Curbing, wood, large rocks, etc)

But if it's flood and puddle issues, I totally get that.

 

[apoe]

Can you check temp on your gravel then check a paved parking lot temp. Here in Maryland today hot nasty humid my black top is reading 136 where sun has been on it most of the day. New to chickens so would they just hang out on it if driveway was paved? My wife did have a dog that would go lay on ours in the summertime but he was dumb ass a brick no matter how many times we got him to the grass he went back to driveway.