Mudd in the coop.

[JonBoyWhat]

I have a hen raising 9 chicks and the pen is filthy muddy. The hen is pretty mean if i get in the pen. Should i just clean it out asap and just take her beatings?

 

[duckinnut]

I would go to the nearest aggie store and buy straw and toss it in,really cuts down on the mess in the coop. Its fairly cheap and goes a long way,just make it as deep as you need.

 

[patandchickens]

Yeah, I agree, as a short-term solution (i.e until hen and chicks are no longer there/together) just chuck in some more stuff, a good THICK thickness of it. You can put it on half of the pen, then wait til hen and chicks have moved to that high ground and then put the remainder on the other still-muddy half of the pen.

Of course, when the chick-raising is over and the hen can be confined/moved/handled/whatever, you will have a substantial big job cleaning the pen OUT but you gotta do it or it'll be even worse next time.

Then, go take a look at my "fixing a muddy run" page (link in .sig below) for a bunch of things you can do -- preferably do as many of them as possible -- to prevent it getting muddy in future. In fact you might want to take a look at that now b/c it is possible that some could be done NOW to minimize how much worse it gets while the hen and chicks are still in there (e.g. trenching and gutters and extended downspouts)

Good luck, have fun,

Pat