Muddy Floors

[RootsieTootsie]

Here's our current situation:

2 peacocks (~2yo siblings, taken in/rescued) are sharing a 10'l x 10'w x 6'h pen attached to a 10'l x 5'w x 6'h coop, all with dirt(clay) floor, on slight slope, down-hill, where run off + peafowl = muddy mess. It's impossible for me to clean in there. They are walking around in a soup of their own feces. *** This is their temporary home, we cannot move them anywhere else until we get the larger area done and that will be 2-3 months from now, IF all goes as planned. I need help making the current place better. Please don't say move them.. we can't. ***

I am concerned about the mud's effects on their feet, plumage, health (bacteria breeding ground), etc. I hate for any animal to be stuck in a muddy area.

Has anyone ever been in a similar situation? I am researching and wondering if our best bet is the "deep litter method", but with the run off will that just be even worse than mud? I just know from experience with dogs in a pen where it got muddy that the addition of straw just made a horrible, horrible mess that required a lot of effort to correct. Thanks for your thoughts!

Here's a current photo of the pen:

 

[frenchblackcopper]

I go thru the same problem each spring here. My breeding pens has no growing grass anymore,and when any sprouts it's eaten immediatedly. So my pen floors are basically dirt when dry,mud when it's wet. Just as I've done in the past,yesterday I went and got 26 bales of straw. I break up the bales and spread them inside the pens covering the mud. Suprisingly this layer of straw if laid thick enough will last thru about June. It keep the males trains from becoming burdened with mud on the end,although on a few occassions we've had to catch and use a garden hose to wash the mudd out of them. Layer it thick,2 bales should be plenty in your 10x10x6 pen.

 

[DylansMom]

Here's our current situation:

2 peacocks (~2yo siblings, taken in/rescued) are sharing a 10'l x 10'w x 6'h pen attached to a 10'l x 5'w x 6'h coop, all with dirt(clay) floor, on slight slope, down-hill, where run off + peafowl = muddy mess. It's impossible for me to clean in there. They are walking around in a soup of their own feces. *** This is their temporary home, we cannot move them anywhere else until we get the larger area done and that will be 2-3 months from now, IF all goes as planned. I need help making the current place better. Please don't say move them.. we can't. ***

I am concerned about the mud's effects on their feet, plumage, health (bacteria breeding ground), etc. I hate for any animal to be stuck in a muddy area.

Has anyone ever been in a similar situation? I am researching and wondering if our best bet is the "deep litter method", but with the run off will that just be even worse than mud? I just know from experience with dogs in a pen where it got muddy that the addition of straw just made a horrible, horrible mess that required a lot of effort to correct. Thanks for your thoughts!

Here's a current photo of the pen:

I wish I had an answer for you. We used to have a small pen built onto a 3 sided run-in shed, it worked great for about 3 years and then suddenly we had a huge rainy spell culminating in the remains of hurricane Isabella dumping a couple inches more on us. My pen just could not drain after all that and the birds were almost sinking in up to their hocks. The only good part was that the rain started after they molted the long train feathers, so those were not dragging thru it all. We did have another pen available and hubby had to put on chest waders and net all 5 Peas one-by-one and carry them to the big barn. We had a bed of sand in that pen to help with drainage, but it just wasn't enough. The following spring we tore it down and relocated a new shed and pen on higher ground. So no answers, but lots of sympathy, because I have been there.

 

[RootsieTootsie]

Thanks... I can't wait to move them! With the snow and rain we have had the past month, it just really took a toll on the pen. A week ago we had 20" of snow, then rain for much of this past week, and now this weekend has been gorgeous (I'm in just jeans and a tshirt all day outside). We are getting more rain Tuesday though. It's "mud season" here now. :/

I had been wanting peafowl for a while, but didn't really plan on it this soon. We acquired these with only a few days notice, so we had to put together this pen out of spare materials, between an old pen and the turkeys pen. The old pen became a makeshift coop and the only way to get to this pen is through it. The only good thing is that we have it super secure. If I had planned on having peafowl this soon, we would have had them a better place made. But, we never do things the easy way, lol.

 

[KsKingBee]

Nice birds, I think they are older than you think they are. Never seen a two year old with that many eyes on it's train.

 

[RootsieTootsie]

Thanks, I just am in awe of their beauty! Never thought I would really have any.

I never thought to question the age. How old do you think they may be? When I got them they had already molted and the lady said they had never had a train before. But, they were in a small area with bantams and chicken wire at 3' high, so I thought maybe that kept them from growing trains?

This photo is the first time I saw one of them in all their glory. He is prancing and shaking them at the other one. They grew up together, but will they maybe fight?

I'm so new to peafowl!!! I am really glad I found BYC and am able to ask questions, browse others posts, and become more confident. Thanks to anyone who is replying!

 

[DylansMom]

Thanks, I just am in awe of their beauty! Never thought I would really have any.

I never thought to question the age. How old do you think they may be? When I got them they had already molted and the lady said they had never had a train before. But, they were in a small area with bantams and chicken wire at 3' high, so I thought maybe that kept them from growing trains?

This photo is the first time I saw one of them in all their glory. He is prancing and shaking them at the other one. They grew up together, but will they maybe fight?

I'm so new to peafowl!!! I am really glad I found BYC and am able to ask questions, browse others posts, and become more confident. Thanks to anyone who is replying!

This could be their first year with the big trains, which would make them 3 or 4. As for fighting, I tell everyone the same thing.

The 2 white males in my avatar grew up together, they have always been together and there have never been hens in with them, the are 6 now and have thus far gotten along just fine. However, individual personalities can vary, and there is no way to guarantee this will always be the case, but I have heard from several people that 2 males can get along fine, if there are no females to fight over.

 

[MinxFox]