Chicken Run Flooring (?). SO MANY FLIES !

[0ddaudd]

Hey ! So for awhile i was putting timothy hay at the bottom of my chicken run since they’ve eaten all the grass. But I live in Louisiana so it rains almost everyday, and the timothy hay was just getting muddy and smelly. So I decided to put some sand down as well. But the sand has appeared to mix with the mud and old timothy hay. The chicken run right now is very smelly and still muddy. The birds free roam almost all day but I still hate for them to have to be in the run with all that mud and FLIES. I’ve been using this fly powder (to no avail).
I was just curious as to what y’all do? Should i shovel all the old timothy hay and sand out as much as possible and only put new sand in the run? And is there any traps or plants I can put in or near my run to keep all the flies down ?
Thanks SO much!

 

[Kiki]

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/martins-horse-stable-permethrin-citronella-spray-1-qt

 

[rosemarythyme]

Is drainage an issue or is it only muddy when it rains?

If no drainage issue, consider going with deep litter with chunky wood chips as the base- it stabilized my soil and took care of my mud issue and the composting action helps "eat up" poop and smells.

 

[0ddaudd]

Is drainage an issue or is it only muddy when it rains?

If no drainage issue, consider going with deep litter with chunky wood chips as the base- it stabilized my soil and took care of my mud issue and the composting action helps "eat up" poop and smells.

its just muddy when it rains ! and thanks so much. any other tips ?