Mud/ Dirt around coop, how do you deal with it..

[PoppasGrill]

Mostly it is the outside of coop and barn gates, turns into a nasty , poop smelling mess after it rains that we have to walk through to get to the coops and barn.
Tried blocking off sections and laying a pallet of sod, but between the chickens flying over to scratch the new turf and the donkeys knocking down the barricades to toss the sod chunks in the air, it lasted about a week before there was no sign of grass left.
Forget grass seed, for the same reasons, donkeys can vacuum seeds out of the dirt, it’s uncanny.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Debbie292d]

We just had that issue with our aviary that has 10 two month old chicks in. The snow rain is able to get in one side and made a horrible muck mess of it as well. I tried stall refresher first which didn't do a thing. Then I dumped horse bedding pellets all over on it and it dried it right up and made sawdust that I left for now but will be easier to clean up than muck and at least it's dry.

 

[Evadig]

I laid down a lot of paving stones from Lowe's. In the coop I don't have that problem for some reason, maybe because it's covered. But just outside the door it's a muddy mess.

 

[PoppasGrill]

Yea, it’s outside the coop, but we don’t want pavers to get covered in mud. Ideally we would like to get grass growing in these areas again, but after destroying $200 worth of sod in a week , I might throw a layer of gravel in there and border it just to get rid of the mud.

 

[Debbie292d]

Yea, it’s outside the coop, but we don’t want pavers to get covered in mud. Ideally we would like to get grass growing in these areas again, but after destroying $200 worth of sod in a week , I might throw a layer of gravel in there and border it just to get rid of the mud.

That's what the chicks in the aviary are on, pavers. So it's easier to clean actually, just I wasn't going to deal with 1/2 -1" of poop mixed with feed, mixed with mud, mixed with whatever lol. The horse pellets did a nice job making it not stink too.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Wood chips for me, but that only works if you have good existing drainage in those problematic areas. I put down a short wood chip path in front of the run this year as the grass that was there got too thinned out and the ground started getting muddy. Within days it firmed up and it's been fine to walk on since.