How to get rid of mud in the out door run

[KahKaDoodleDo22]

Thank you for your reply!

That was helpful, I feel like it’s a downpour here often and it’s always sooooo wet!

My mom lives in FL so I know the down pours your taking about. We were just there last August.

I’ll try the pellets. That sounds like a good idea thanks! Also water gets on my shavings in the inside house too and it’s from all their little feet. Can’t keep up, the pellets might be their answer here!!

And I am well aware of the “no permanent” solution, ever. Hahahhahahah. The beauty of owning chickens I guess.

 

[hayley3]

I have an open run with a net on top. That became very muddy after the grass was eaten. I really had to do something about that in the fall with a lot of rain. The soil contains river clay and adobe and is poorly permeable.

To solve this problem I first wanted to spread wood chips in the run. But someone told me that this is a risk for bumble foot.

I then made a simple drainaige. :

• I drilled a 3 foot (1 meter) deep hole every 3 feet (1 meter) with a hole drill to make piles in the ground.
  
  
• I filled the holes with river pebbles

The problem was solved immediately. No more water remains. And it still works well after 4 years.

To make the soil healthy and rich in humus, I often throw garden waste (weeds) in the run. And leaves in autumn. Now something is growing again in the run. Probably wheat or barley from the grains that were not eaten.

I've never seen one of those tools. That's a clever idea to make drain holes for the water to flow into. But I suppose they are not available here anywhere.

 

[BDutch]

I've never seen one of those tools. That's a clever idea to make drain holes for the water to flow into. But I suppose they are not available here anywhere.

Maybe you can buy or borrow another tool to put poles in the ground?

 

[hayley3]

The hand tools we have to do that are heavy and cumbersome to use. This is the only one i know of besides an auger to use with a tractor which I don't have.

 

[aart]

I've never seen one of those tools. That's a clever idea to make drain holes for the water to flow into. But I suppose they are not available here anywhere.

You might be able to find something like that....but not sure poking holes in the ground puddles will really help drainage, might just make deeper puddles.....unless you were punching thru a layer of clay into sand below.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

You might be able to find something like that....but not sure poking holes in the ground puddles will really help drainage, might just make deeper puddles.....unless you were punching thru a layer of clay into sand below.

Actually depends on the scenario. My sister did this with her lawn and one of these;

She redid it every year. And it worked rather well. The soil was able to take in more water more effectively and she had one of the healthiest lawns on the street. My house is right across from hers. So I will second from experience that it can help under the right circumstances.

 

[aart]

Actually depends on the scenario. My sister did this with her lawn and one of these;

Does that pull out plugs of sod?
More for aeration but water too.
On golf course greens they then fill the plug holes with sand.
Works great for turf grass....but still don't think it's an answer for a sodden chicken run....unless the topic had changed here and I missed it.

 

[micstrachan]

I have an open run with a net on top. That became very muddy after the grass was eaten. I really had to do something about that in the fall with a lot of rain. The soil contains river clay and adobe and is poorly permeable.

To solve this problem I first wanted to spread wood chips in the run. But someone told me that this is a risk for bumble foot.

I then made a simple drainaige. :

• I drilled a 3 foot (1 meter) deep hole every 3 feet (1 meter) with a hole drill to make piles in the ground.
  
  
• I filled the holes with river pebbles

The problem was solved immediately. No more water remains. And it still works well after 4 years.

To make the soil healthy and rich in humus, I often throw garden waste (weeds) in the run. And leaves in autumn. Now something is growing again in the run. Probably wheat or barley from the grains that were not eaten.

I love this idea!

 

[micstrachan]

Sand can become a stinking mess over time, especially wet. Deep leaf litter, wood chips, rice husks and the like, may be your best friend. Your instinct seems spot-on about straw, a great place to grow mold (a danger to your flock's respiratory system).

^^^ THIS^^^
Half my run is covered with tarp and half is not. The covered part stays dry and the uncovered side can get a bit soggy. A variety of organic matter (rice hills, Pine shavings, leaves, twigs) is becoming a great source of entertainment for the birds, and the bedding helps dry it out a bit. I recently started swapping out some of the litter back and forth between the wet and dry sides and the girls mix it all up for me!

Outside of the run, we do have some of that nasty, slimy leaf stuff. Since I don’t want the girls to get eat anything unsafe while digging through it, I started mixing wood pellets (meant for horse stalls) into the slimy mess and turning slightly with spitch fork. The pellets turn to saw dust and dry up the slime. I haven’t yet added them to the run, but may if we have a wet spring.

 

[micstrachan]

Oops! Just read the rest of the thread and I see two others have already suggested the wood pellets. Good luck!