Help...endless mud in the run!! What to do??

[oldchickenman]

we put wooden pallets in the pens that are real bad you should be able to find them for free. keeps form slipping in the mud and busting your but too lol.

 

[patandchickens]

Gravel is really good, however putting it into an already-muddy run loses a lot of the $ you spend for the load of gravel (or sand) b/c it will fairly rapidly disappear into the mud, usually within a season. However if you gotta do it you gotta do it, we can't always wait for the dry season

One thing to consider is that it may be more effective to put twice as much gravel or sand or straw or what-have-you into half the run, thus making a really high and reasonably long-lasting dry area, rather than distribute the same quantity everywhere and thus get less benefit overall.

There are probably a lot of other things you can do, too, aside from building up the ground. Check out my muddy run page (link in .sig below) for fuller discussion, but basically, try do do as much as possible of the following: gutters, long drainpipes to lead downspout water far away, trenching around the coop, tarps or walls on run to reduce rain input.

Good luck,

Pat