Best bedding for wet muddy run

[Apocalypse]

You need drainage. You can add anything you want, but unless you have drainage... you are just hiding the water under something. Add lots of rock, covered with finer rock. Wood chips are good temporarily, but it sounds like you have a constant issue, the chips will work until they degrade. Then square one again.

 

[LamarshFish]

I'd fix the drainage issues as best you can first, if possible, with something like a french drain and/or river pebbles and things like that. Then use something like bark or wood pellets like you burn in a wood burning pellet stove.

 

[Chullicken]

Not really sure about your run setup. All my runs are covered with 4' PVC Clear roofing panels (Roughly $14 for a 8 X 4 panel) for this very thing. Doesn't do much for horizontal rain but can make a difference for regular rain types. I also have a hardware cloth cover underneath it as added protection. Also those home stores do sell the appropriate sand, All Purpose Sand. Comes in 80lb bags and it cheap, matter of $4 a bag. All Purpose is great because the material is generally clear of large chunks and rocks which are bad for their feet. Using sand is amazing when done correctly. It requires a decent amount of maintenance but really looks great when kept right. Also knowing our little feathered rototillers. if you go with sand the easiest way is to just dump the majority of it in the center of your run as they will scratch and kick it around. After a few applications, you should start seeing a hump formed in the center. Can also apply more material to the far end away from the coop to have about a 3% grade for run off. The height of this is up to you. This allows for some drain off to the edges. Everyone has their 'choice' in run materials so see what works for you. It works for me with a 6" layer of All Purpose Sand and then in the fall and colder months I throw down a healthy later of Chopped Straw. Not the regular straw, hate that stuff.

 

[Relleoms]

I too suggest wood chips. I like the bags of pine bark mulch/nuggets because they are convenient and generally have a variety of nugget sizes. You could also buy in bulk from a landscape supply store.

 

[TeenageRooster's Dad]

You need drainage. You can add anything you want, but unless you have drainage... you are just hiding the water under something. Add lots of rock, covered with finer rock. Wood chips are good temporarily, but it sounds like you have a constant issue, the chips will work until they degrade. Then square one again.

Agree. Drainage is a must. Learned the hard way this winter. Plus my run used to host pigs a while ago so do the math. Also discovered that our septic leech field leaking and part of the reason why the run kept flooding.

Worse case scenario.

I ended up building a trench for the rain water (the run is a the lowest point on the property) and adding a few drains inside the run. It doesn't need to be that fancy; I probably dug 4' deep, 3' wide, added a perforated pipe and packed with coarse gravel. I've also added about 1' of sand all around.

 

[TeenageRooster's Dad]

Forgot to mention; if you're adding sand and a drain, make sure there's a good gravel radius around the drain (3' at least) so that the sand just doesn't end up "down the drain"... or you'll be back to square one

 

[aart]

Also discovered that our septic leech field leaking and part of the reason why the run kept flooding.

Ewwww...NOT good!

 

[TeenageRooster's Dad]

Doesn't do much for horizontal rain

Horizontal rain... the worse

 

[TeenageRooster's Dad]

Ewwww...NOT good!

... when baby wipes are coming out of the ground... you're in trouble

 

[LittleMissPurdy]

... when baby wipes are coming out of the ground... you're in trouble

..I guess..geesh!

You need drainage. You can add anything you want, but unless you have drainage... you are just hiding the water under something. Add lots of rock, covered with finer rock. Wood chips are good temporarily, but it sounds like you have a constant issue, the chips will work until they degrade. Then square one again.

yeppers...take care of that drainage, then get yourself some "free", (if you can), mulch!!
Don't know the exact set-up, so just answering the first question...mulch works best for us, but we have "built-up" our run area and have addressed the drainage issues.