Covering mud on a slope

[WhiteTreeOfGondor]

Does anyone have any ideas for something at least somewhat permanent that I could put over mud in my sloped duck pens?

I've tried covering it with old pine shavings from the coop. It works for a couple of days, but over time it's become packed layers of old soggy shavings that never dry out. While better than mud, it's still gross and is going to be very hard to get cleaned out.

I tried rocks around their pond, which is also on a slope, and the rocks slid down the hill and scattered over the yard. I also wouldn't want to use rocks in the pens because it would be hard on their feet.

I thought maybe paving stones, but even if those worked with a slope, they probably wouldn't be good for the ducks' feet either.

Has anyone tried straw or mulch? I'm not sure if either would have the same problem as the shavings.

Thanks for any ideas!

 

[NatJ]

Has anyone tried straw or mulch? I'm not sure if either would have the same problem as the shavings.

Straw will mat in layers even more effectively than the shavings. That is good for staying in place. But I think it will be soggy layers that never dry out, like the shavings you already tried.

Mulch (wood chips that are quite a bit bigger than shavings) are often good for muddy areas. The wood chips tend not to mat together. On a flat surface, I think they would be much better than the shavings you already tried. Unfortunately, I think on a slope, wood chips (mulch) would have the same problem your rocks did: falling downhill instead of staying where you put them.

Does anyone have any ideas for something at least somewhat permanent that I could put over mud in my sloped duck pens?

You could try using mulch, and shoveling it from the low side of the pen back up to the high side on a regular basis. I don't really think that would be what you are looking for, since shoveling it back up would be a lot of work to do regularly.

Maybe you could put something sideways across the pens, to turn them into a set of big steps instead of a slope. (Boards? Landscape timbers? Cinder blocks? Pavers?) Then you could put mulch in/on each flat area, and it would stay put better. Depending on how big your pens are and how steep the slope is, you might just put a solid edge along the downhill side, keep adding mulch at the top end, and eventually you would have mulch with a flat surface (deeper at the bottom end, shallower at the top end.)

I thought maybe paving stones, but even if those worked with a slope, they probably wouldn't be good for the ducks' feet either.

I have no personal experience with ducks or their feet, so my suggestions are based on experience with mud on my boots, and in chicken pens. Definitely consider the needs of the ducks' feet when deciding whether my ideas are any good.

 

[WhiteTreeOfGondor]

Straw will mat in layers even more effectively than the shavings. That is good for staying in place. But I think it will be soggy layers that never dry out, like the shavings you already tried.

Mulch (wood chips that are quite a bit bigger than shavings) are often good for muddy areas. The wood chips tend not to mat together. On a flat surface, I think they would be much better than the shavings you already tried. Unfortunately, I think on a slope, wood chips (mulch) would have the same problem your rocks did: falling downhill instead of staying where you put them.



You could try using mulch, and shoveling it from the low side of the pen back up to the high side on a regular basis. I don't really think that would be what you are looking for, since shoveling it back up would be a lot of work to do regularly.

Maybe you could put something sideways across the pens, to turn them into a set of big steps instead of a slope. (Boards? Landscape timbers? Cinder blocks? Pavers?) Then you could put mulch in/on each flat area, and it would stay put better. Depending on how big your pens are and how steep the slope is, you might just put a solid edge along the downhill side, keep adding mulch at the top end, and eventually you would have mulch with a flat surface (deeper at the bottom end, shallower at the top end.)


I have no personal experience with ducks or their feet, so my suggestions are based on experience with mud on my boots, and in chicken pens. Definitely consider the needs of the ducks' feet when deciding whether my ideas are any good.

Thank you so much for the suggestions! I battled the rocks for while, shoveling them back into place, but eventually gave up. Rocks would be much harder to shovel than mulch but it still might take more time than I'd like. That is a very a good idea about turning it into steps and then covering it with mulch. It would likely be easier to clean when needed, and better for the ducks' feet than just paving stones.

 

[perkolator]

Use deep wood mulch so it has some coarser texture to help with keeping moisture below the surface.

My chicken setup is on a slight slope and the area holds more moisture than uphill and material wants to travel downhill. I chose wood chip mulch for moisture control and no longer have any mud issues now that the chickens have integrated so much organic materials into the soil over the last two years.

I’ve played around with and found a simple weir system is quite effective at keeping bedding material from migrating downhill as quickly, so I plan to add more. I was just using firewood chunks but a simple row of bricks, cinder blocks, logs, rocks, wood, etc. basically whatever you have access to should work. Stake them in place if they keep moving (such as rebar stakes pinning a cedar fence picket in place)

Good luck.

 

[WhiteTreeOfGondor]

Use deep wood mulch so it has some coarser texture to help with keeping moisture below the surface.

My chicken setup is on a slight slope and the area holds more moisture than uphill and material wants to travel downhill. I chose wood chip mulch for moisture control and no longer have any mud issues now that the chickens have integrated so much organic materials into the soil over the last two years.

I’ve played around with and found a simple weir system is quite effective at keeping bedding material from migrating downhill as quickly, so I plan to add more. I was just using firewood chunks but a simple row of bricks, cinder blocks, logs, rocks, wood, etc. basically whatever you have access to should work. Stake them in place if they keep moving (such as rebar stakes pinning a cedar fence picket in place)

Good luck.

Thank you! What is a weir system? Is that just where you put a border up to keep the materials from leaving?

 

[perkolator]

Yeah, a system of short walls/dams/terraces/steps for erosion control. It slows down the movement of bedding material going downhill from the animals activity on it