Help stopping soil erosion.

[Toothpick]

Greetings everyone!

It’s been a while since I’ve visited and posted so I hope you and your chicks are doing well.

I’m back with a question on stopping soil erosion in the run. I let my run get overrun..ha! So I got rid of the chickens and I’m redoing it. Going to make it better for the new chicks. But I need to stop the soil erosion.

You can see from the pics it’s pretty bad.

My thought is to build a retaining wall with bricks. Which should stop the soil wall from getting worse. But what about the ground in the run? Any ideas?
or simply build it up with yard waste?

Thanks for your help!

 

[DobieLover]

I’m mainly concerned about the wall getting worse.

But it happened because of water flow. The coop placement was a bad idea and I didn’t consider what would happen after the chickens pecked away all the grass. The water flows downhill right through the chicken run. So once the chicks pecked away all the grass then the rain just started washing the soil away.

So fixing the wall so it don’t get worse and the run is priority before I add new chickens.

Can you have the coop moved to a better location? Water should never be running through the run.
Failing being able to move the coop you can install a wide deep French drain along the water flow path way and divert it around the run then build up the run with several truck loads of wood chips to get the level in there higher than the surrounding ground.
Will the new run have a solid roof?

 

[Acre4Me]

Is your yard sloped at all? It looks like maybe it is towards the right of the bottom pic (away from the coop). If so, that is good. A trench or drain or berm, or something like that can help and the water has somewhere to go.

Still, you need to build up the run. We have a chain link fence around the run, and there is a roof over most of it. And it is behind the barn, so that helps. But, we had water running through one side of the run and were thankful we had built an elevated coop. So, we redirected the barn gutter run-off to start. Then we politely asked a friend that works at a factory if he could get sawdust. He brought us around 800-1000lbs of sawdust , but we spread that around most of the 500sq ft run (it is 10'x50') as a base. Then we got around 18-20 yards of chipped wood from a tree company and put ALL of it in the run. It was comical at this point, because the chickens that had climbed to the top of the mostly spread out chipped wood, seemed to be at eye height - although they weren't quite that elevated, of course. We spread it out some more and over the course of a couple of weeks, it settled down to a normal height. We did place boards around the base of the fence so that the chipped wood would stay inside the run. In their favorite spots we ended up adding some sand and peat moss and wood ashes - to create nice and light dust bathing areas.

 

[Acre4Me]

Erosion happens bc water is flowing through. Is this the case?

Or, did this happen bc chickens were penned in that area and scratched the heck out of it?

if the latter, then build up the area with yard waste -although wet leaves are slippery. You can put in a bunch of chipped wood that you can get from a tree company that removes trees. You could go with bark mulch, just make sure it’s natural and not dyed a color like red. Avoid cedar chips if possible.

since you are without chickens right now, you have a good chance to fix whatever needs fixing before the new batch arrives!

 

[3KillerBs]

You need to first address the drainage problem through re-grading the area, digging water diversion ditches, and/or laying French Drain.

Then you need plenty of good, absorbent bedding -- wood chips would be the most stable but I believe that a mix of different materials and textures is, ultimately, the best. By plenty I'm talking a continual build up, beginning with raising the level to the level of the surrounding ground and then adding more in thin layers at intervals so that it ends up either remaining level no matter how much they chickens dig or how fast the composting reaction breaks it down or actually builds up above the level of the surrounding ground.

 

[Ted Brown]

I CAN move it. But I would have to get someone out here with a flatbed to load it then move it to a new spot. It’s a 8x10 storage shed that I converted to a chicken coop. And the couple other locations I can move it are not ideal either. I’d rather not do that.

Building the French drain is an option. I hadn’t thought of that.

I can sort of see the water flow path that it’s made in the dirt. So a french drain should be easy enough. Since I know how the water flows.

You must address the water flow issues and it has to be a permanent solution; a french drain or diversion can work but do not underestimate the work involved, likely to require more than a shovel and lots of sweat!

You say the other locations are not ideal; in what ways, water flow as well? If you have a location that does not have water flow issues I would carefully assess how to deal it's limitations; consult here 'cause multiple minds are always best.

An 8' by 10' shed is not a biggie, depending on land contours and distance to be moved it may be that a few round logs and a sturdy set of rope/pulleys (park your car and tie one end to it) would be sufficient?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Terracing is how this issue has been addresses for thousands of years. Build a wall high enough on the lower side to stop the dirt from washing away. That may be one wall along the bottom or you may need intermediate terraces in your run. See if you can read up on terracing and how to do it.

Berms and swales above the run can divert rainwater runoff away from your run. Don't let the water flow in to start with. The problem with this is that you are concentrating the rainwater runoff so you will probably get ditches eroded into your soil where that is. That is a real common problem in hilly country. There are techniques to deal with that but it's not always easy. What you need to do is reduce the energy of the flowing water. Some methods are to put large rocks in that gully that won't wash away or maybe filling the gully with brush anchored so it doesn't wash away. Or allow a thicket of brush and maybe briars to grow in the gully.

When I was in Arkansas I stopped my driveway from washing away by building a rock pile (I won't dignify what I did by calling it a rock wall, pile was more accurate) across the lower side. That caused water to back up and stand in my front yard so I installed a French drain under my driveway.

Even if you stop rainwater runoff from flowing through your run and eroding it, rain will fall in it. The chicken's scratching will cause the dirt to go downhill due to gravity. I'd still terrace even if you do divert runoff from the run.

Good luck!

 

[aart]

You can see from the pics it’s pretty bad.

Did you have any bedding in the run before?

 

[Toothpick]

Thanks for the replies! My yard slopes downhill from right to left. So as you look at the photos the coop is the high point and the run the lower point as water runs from the left to the right of the property. Of course it was all green and fine looking so hey, lets put it right here, nice and convenient. Then the chickens ate all the grass and it was nothing but dirt then the rain did it’s job.

I do have convenient access to wood shavings. I think they are pine though so probably not ideal. However, with anything I put in the run to build it up I’m worried the rain will simply wash it away. So if I’m understanding my first task is to divert the water. Once the water issue is solved then build up the run.

 

[3KillerBs]

However, with anything I put in the run to build it up I’m worried the rain will simply wash it away.

This is where the terracing comes in -- using some kind of barrier to keep the bedding in place.

It could be block, landscape timbers, rock, brick, metal skirting, random logs from trees you've cut, ...