grass area ok? too small? ample? help???

[arlee453]

Yep...ditto the grass thing.

My run is a 20x80 foot section of our backyard that I partitioned off for the chickens.

It took my 8 girls about 4 weeks to take that area down to mostly bare earth....

I'd say drainage IS the more urgent issue - if it's a well drained area they'll be fine. If a low spot where water tends to collect you'll have a muddy, stinky mess in a very short time.

 

[patandchickens]

If these will be ex-battery hens I kind of doubt how much you will have to worry about them flying over your fence, at least at first

Pat

 

[scottiedogscott]

thanks sooo much for all the advice. and in response to the grass area being well drained it definatly is not! it may be hard now but when its really wet.... bleh is there anything i can do to help this? the area looks a bit like this

sorry its a terrible crappy design i done in paint for the past 15 mins XD not to scale!

 

[Davaroo]

Quote:
Okay, dearie, if you were paying attention I mentioned mulch and straw in the chicken run back up thread. One of your countrymen, Geoffrey Sykes, made it popular back in the 50's and probably would've been knighted, had things not gone to commercial practice as we know it. Here's what wikiedia says about it:

"In Britain, Geoffrey Sykes developed a new yarding system in the Fifties. This used a small yard covered with a thick layer of straw, with more straw added frequently. He also recommended that shade and a windbreak be provided by a solid fence around the yard, or by other means, such as rows of haybales. Once a year, the old straw was removed by a front-end loader or similar machinery. This method eliminated both mud and pathogens. It was later forgotten because the industry moved to high-density confinement before the method was widely established.

So you see there is precedence.

Your little garden looks the dogs danglies for 4-5 chickens. That'll work.

 

[scottiedogscott]

oh sorry i thought you meant the straw for the inside of the coop XD i can see how it would work outside aswell. thanks

 

[patandchickens]

An alternative, maybe even better, solution for drainage/dampness problems in the run is to pony up for a small truckload of sand or roadbase (or whatever they call it where you are - sand and dirt and gravel all mixed together). Put at least 4" of it in the run, or more if water tends to pool there. You can still toss straw or garden weedings or whatever on top of it if you want, but it will provide a stable, long-lasting and FREE-DRAINING base, as opposed to wet straw on wet mud which gradually produces deeper wetter muckier mud unless replaced on a fairly frequent basis.

Good luck and ahve fun,

Pat

 

[scottiedogscott]

ok any specific kind of gravel? small fish tank like gravel? or big chukkies like gravel you would have in your front garden?

also this soil, gravel and sand mix... wont it ruin the grass underneath? and it sounds like a bugger to clean up and dispose of once the wet season is over. i dont have much grass....

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
Small like fishtank gravel, if you are going for pure gravel. But roadbase (or whatever it's called in your area) or sand will probably be less expensive.

also this soil, gravel and sand mix... wont it ruin the grass underneath? and it sounds like a bugger to clean up and dispose of once the wet season is over. i dont have much grass....

No no, you don't clean it up and dispose of it, it stays there forever. Providing permanently good drainage and better sanitation

(Whereas straw or woodchips or whatnot *will* have to be disposed of periodically).

It is not a problem for the grass, because you are not going to HAVE grass in your chicken run ANYhow

Whatever's growing there now will quickly be eaten/scratched/pooed/compacted into oblivion and then there will be nothing but mud, which is what the sand or gravel or roadbase is meant to cure.

Certainly you can wait a little while, at first, before you put down your sand or straw or woodchips or whatever you end up using -- let them enjoy the grass while it's there

But once it is gone and you are down to mud or baked earth (depending on weather), THAT's when you bring in a cartload of <whatever>. Make sense?

Pat​

 

[lfoose]

Quote:
Why is mud a bad thing?

 

[Davaroo]

Quote:
Why is mud a bad thing?

Considering that chickens are respiratory incubators looking for a disease, that in itself should suggest why.
Think if YOU had to live outside, in a mud bog all the time, never able to leave it.
Also, they have the most horrid of toilet habits and when their droppings are combined with water and dirt, these bogs-cum-chicken pens become breeding grounds for all sorts of nasty diseases.
It is a very old truth, often lost on the enthusiastic amateur, that 'Cleaniliness is Next to Godliness'. This is nowhere more applicable than in the hen yard.
I rank it among my Five Rules of Chickens... its that important.