Bad, bad bad. Bedding ideas?

TheOLDNewChick

I'm an original
12 Years
Jun 12, 2007
2,750
20
201
Tioga, Louisiana
New coop, new run, new problem. The ground is really uneven and after all the rain we had, my poor chickens are practically swimming. I know that's not healthy to begin with, but what's worse is they're scratching their food out of the feeder, and leaving bits on the ground, so now it's not only mucky out there, it smells bad enough to gag a maggot. That sour, moldy, icky smell. I need something to put out there to soak up the water (and smell). If at all possible I'd like to use something, you know, FREE, or really cheap. Any ideas? Please?
 
I'm not really sure if its what you need cause I've never had a smelly flooded coop before, but I use pine or straw and it is cheap.
 
Rake out the bad feed droppings as much as possible. I would try placing sand or dirt on top of the old soil --raising it up higher..then if you have a few pallets laying around that you could place in the run and put the feeders on or move them inside. I would also dig a ditch around the outside of the run and direct any future water away from them.. Maybe you could hang a tarp and use a fan to help dry out the run.. Nothing worse than 'rotten soil'... Dixie
 
I have the same problem, only my run is on a very slight slope,and it takes a day or 2 or it to dry out, we put a tarp over part of the run but with all the rain, snow and wind the tarp is about gone. most of the rain goesdown the sloap to my dau yard, but right now it is really wet, in fact so bad i have to put a board out to get to my feeder without sliding down. My feeder is up about 2 feet off the ground and the ladies have to fly up about afoot to get on the side of the feeder to eat. so I don't lose any feed to them scratching it out.after it dries out some i spread some DE about over the run to kill the odor. STINKS!
 
If you can afford it, you need to have limestone put into your run/coop. Limestone here is cheap. When it dries out it is almost like cement.
 
If you go the limestone route, ask for the really cheap stuff that has all the dust in it. Miss Chessy is right, that stuff will soak up the water and dry up like concrete.
 
i have the same problem right now, stinky muck in my run. i'm going to scrape out what i can (it WAS sand) and try peat moss. let ya know how it works.
 
Adding some lime to the soil will help with the smell, just make sure you have the chickens out of the run when you add it, use a garden rake to work it into the soil.
 

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