Muddy Chicken Runs.

[MysteryChicken]

Unless the chickens were kept in a completely enclosed area behind solid walls and filters where there could be no possible contact of any kind with any wild bird or other animal they're almost certainly already exposed to whatever is in the environment via foraging in their pen and/or free ranging.

True, but no one's dropped dead yet .

 

[black_cat]

Whenever my run gets muddy and/or smelly I add a whole bunch of dry topsoil/dirt (sometimes mulch or woodchips), fresh shavings, and sand, then turn all the dirt and mix it all around. Works well for me, but I have a smaller run and WAAAY fewer chickens.

 

[MysteryChicken]

Whenever my run gets muddy and/or smelly I add a whole bunch of dry topsoil/dirt (sometimes mulch or woodchips), fresh shavings, and sand, then turn all the dirt and mix it all around. Works well for me, but I have a smaller run and WAAAY fewer chickens.

Yeah, it may not be easy with a huge run.

 

[MysteryChicken]

I'm gonna start throwing in leaves, & pine needles in the standard run tomorrow.

 

[lvkatiebc]

Sand

 

[MIgardengal]

I have a run very similar to yours, shady and at the base of a hill. My run def got mucky, but I found a local tree trimmer who gave me free wood chips. I added about 15 buckets of pine wood chips, it worked wonders. The hens still shove them aside to dig holes for dirt baths etc. But the mud and smell are gone. The poop kinda naturally filters to the base of the wood chips.

Hey i'm sure you can find someone giving chips away for free, its pretty easy to find why not give it a try if it doesn't cost you anything?

 

[MysteryChicken]

I have a run very similar to yours, shady and at the base of a hill. My run def got mucky, but I found a local tree trimmer who gave me free wood chips. I added about 15 buckets of pine wood chips, it worked wonders. The hens still shove them aside to dig holes for dirt baths etc. But the mud and smell are gone. The poop kinda naturally filters to the base of the wood chips.

Hey i'm sure you can find someone giving chips away for free, its pretty easy to find why not give it a try if it doesn't cost you anything?

I can ask my dad if he knows anybody in the tree business if they have wood chippings. It'll help.

 

[Flo7]

My Rosie’s coop, totally enclosed had a tarp over it, but it rained sooo hard there was a huge puddle on the top making the wire sag, so I bought a sheet of plywood and slid it under the tarp, then I poured gravel all around the perimeter on the outside, and put wood flakes inside on the ground. It really helped. Amazon and Walmart sell the wood flakes and do do feed supply places.

 

[MIgardengal]

I can ask my dad if he knows anybody in the tree business if they have wood chippings. It'll help.

Look in the phone book for tree services.

I got a trailer load for free this September from Asplundh. Not sure where you live, but they are the government sanctioned trimmers (at least in the midwest) who clear the trees around power poles. (typically in a orange truck)

Or post a wanted ad on Craigslist/local facebook classifieds. (did that this summer looking for rhubarb and someone gave me a free plant they needed to move!)

 

[banjo dog]

I just throw down straw. the chickens will pack it in and after awhile it will be higher than the ground around it. kind of how they use to make bricks in the old days