Mud, a rug, and a flood

[Henry&Friends]

the chicken run is pure mud sludge, so we moved the fence further out to give them some nice grass (and so I could let them out without falling when I stepped over the fence into the mud.) I have to walk through a few feet of mud to open the door in the morning and close the door at night. I laid down a walkway of broken sawhorses, which worked for about a month. The sawhorses are now a part of the mud sludge, and hardly offer the grip I need to not slide down into the woods. My mum threw an old carpet down in front of the coop, so I could walk on that instead of mud. The rug is covered in mud, but not horribly. However, the part that is nearest to the coop goes up, like a carpeted stair. Like that.

With the yard being sloped down, and the carpet preventing water runoff, the outside of my coop door is a huge puddle. It’s been raining for like three days, so I haven’t been able to work on anything. How would I go about moving the sludge soaked carpet And cleaning it off without becoming sludge soaked myself? I know I’m gonna need some gloves....

 

[quackersandfern]

You might want to think about putting in a run, which would also help protect them against predators, and raising the floor up with wood pallets and rubber mats on top. Also, covering the top. Otherwise, your gonna continuously have mud, which is not good for your birds either.

 

[Henry&Friends]

You might want to think about putting in a run, which would also help protect them against predators, and raising the floor up with wood pallets and rubber mats on top. Also, covering the top. Otherwise, your gonna continuously have mud, which is not good for your birds either.

They had their run set up where the mud rectangle is but now I’ve fenced in half the yard for them. I’m saving up for a buttload of fencing, but money is tight right now I’m getting there though

their coop is raised up on 2 pallets, a log, and a door for a solid(ish) floor. Inside the coop is dry, and I use straw bedding which I clean out semi weekly or if it gets wet.

my birds don’t really hang out in the run (even when the fence was up) and I’m gonna move the coop to the other side of my yard ASAP, because I feel bad when they are in the mud

 

[aart]

With the yard being sloped down, and the carpet preventing water runoff, the outside of my coop door is a huge puddle

Might want to fix that
Throw some pallets down instead of the carpet?

 

[ColoradoPip]

How would I go about moving the sludge soaked carpet And cleaning it off without becoming sludge soaked myself?

Put on rubber boots, rain pants, coat, and gloves, take a hose with pressure nozzle and spray as much off as you can. If you can, use a broom to push as much mud off as you can. It sounds like fun!!

Once you can lift the carpet, then you can hang it up and spray it off much easier than other methods.

 

[Folly's place]

Can you get a load of wood chips, maybe from a tree trimming company, and dump it there to raise things above the mud? It's a temporary fix too, but it might help.
Here we have ice, also not so fun.
Mary

 

[hayley3]

You need some of those big pavers...so you can step on each one to get to the coop. Also you can buy river rock at farm stores and they actually do help with the mud but it could be expensive unless you just put it around the front door of the coop. I tried a lot of things and this was the only thing that worked for me and I had goats.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Guess it's just me, but I'd consider that rug a goner - no way am I going to try and wash thick mud out of a saturated rug.

Need to think of this as a long term project. Sounds like drainage is an issue in that spot, so that's something that'll need to be addressed. Or if you're moving the whole unit, then make sure the new location doesn't have drainage issues (or start planning on how to fix it before hand).

A deep litter system can help fix mud issues but it's not a magic bullet, there needs to be sufficient drainage and it'll take time for it to start mixing down into the mud and stabilizing things. But for the time being, it probably wouldn't hurt to dump some wood chips in the worst areas to hopefully improve footing a little bit.