It's a muddy mess

[SomeChickinTN]

My house is only 5 months old. We only managed to seed about a quarter of the backyard with grass before winter hit. Then it hit me..."I can finally have chickens!". "Let's buy some chicks, we'll have the coop built before they have to go outside."

So, we finally get the coop built. The chickens were in it almost two weeks before the run was done. Apparently, rainy season has come early at my house. And my yard is nothing but a downslope. With no grass. Going from my house to the coop is a little bit of grass and then nothing but mud.

There is a place I can get free mulch, but it's out in the elements, and is soaked. We didn't forsee having to buy hay, but we can't buy it fast enough.

On the bright side, I've never seen chickens play before, and they seem happy. They are more entertaining than tv. I just stand at the window watching them, and my neighbors probably think I'm crazy because sometimes I stand on my back porch and yell at the mean girls.....

 

[drumstick diva]

You probably misunderstand YOUR neighbors, maybe THEY are crazy.
I think getting pea gravel would help a lot. A few inches deep will keep your girls alot happier. By the way if you enclose a run for them to use in bad weather, you could also roof it, to provide some protection from the elements AND raptors.

If the chickens roam your full yard- they would utterly destroy grass anyway.

 

[SomeChickinTN]

You probably misunderstand YOUR neighbors, maybe THEY are crazy.
I think getting pea gravel would help a lot. A few inches deep will keep your girls alot happier. By the way if you enclose a run for them to use in bad weather, you could also roof it, to provide some protection from the elements AND raptors.

If the chickens roam your full yard- they would utterly destroy grass anyway.

Where would I buy pea gravel? Would my co-op have it? We put a piece of tin up on one corner of the run today, but the mulch and hay is basically gone. It sounds like the gravel might at least help drain the run though. My neighbors are an old couple, so maybe they won't mind, and the rooster isn't old enough to be remotely annoying yet....As soon as the weather clears out and gets warm enough, we are going to seed heavily though. My back room is full of mud.

 

[CapricornFarm]

Straw is a cheaper option than hay most of the time. Cheaper to get pea gravel by the truckload. They dump it, you move it into the run by wheel barrow. Put boards on the ground so you can wheel easily.

 

[SomeChickinTN]

On the bright side, all the pullets were out in the run yesterday with only a little pecking, so maybe they are all starting to tolerate each other. We are supposed to get another 3 inches of rain by Thursday morning :/. If it keeps up, the bridge down the road is going to flood out and block us in. I've lived here 9 years and don't remember rainy season starting this early. Usually Feb is our snow month.... I'm not complaining though. I'm so impatient for budding trees.

If anyone is reading, how much garlic do I put in the chickens water? Something like half a crushed clove?