Muddy run! Help please!

[aart]

Quote: Ditto X100....a mix of materials is critical IMO.
Otherwise you can end up with a slimy(and unhealthy, even toxic) mess if one of the thinner materials is used in excess.
Have had that happen with leaves and grasses.

Here's a great description of contents and how to manage organic 'bedding' in a run or coop...and there's a great video of what it looks like.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1037998/muddy-run-help-please#post_16017992

 

[pnwoldie]

Oregon is a different story. It stays so wet that wood chips, leaves, pine needles, and hay, when added to the run will get so soggy the hens cannot turn it. Decomposition then goes anaerobic and OMG the stench. I just forked several loads into the big wheelbarrow for the garden. It was so wet and heavy I could hardly move it. I get the idea of the lightly moist earthy compost but we are talking Oregon in the rainy season.

As for recreating the forest environment, the forest does not have 10 well fed chickens pooping in a small area.

Now that the ice is melted I guess I'll start over with more organic litter.

 

[Beekissed]

Oregon is a different story. It stays so wet that wood chips, leaves, pine needles, and hay, when added to the run will get so soggy the hens cannot turn it. Decomposition then goes anaerobic and OMG the stench. I just forked several loads into the big wheelbarrow for the garden. It was so wet and heavy I could hardly move it. I get the idea of the lightly moist earthy compost but we are talking Oregon in the rainy season.

As for recreating the forest environment, the forest does not have 10 well fed chickens pooping in a small area.

Now that the ice is melted I guess I'll start over with more organic litter.

Perhaps you could use your fork to good use to turn your manure into the mass? That's what I do in the coop. Turning the poop into the mass can bury the smell and send it where the insects and worms can get to it effectively. It just takes a few minutes of each day unless your run is a massive place, which most are not. A light flip of materials onto the surface until all poop is covered, sometimes it's just a flip of material from another place, sometimes it's just flipping the material in place, but the goal is to turn the top layer into the middle layers without disturbing the mass too much.

The material getting soggy is expected in rainy seasons....at least soggy material is better than mud. Try placing twigs, branches and larger items in the layers to allow for air pockets in the mass, which will speed composting and drainage. Skip the hay and other moist materials in your climate, particularly in the rainy seasons, and use dryer, smaller particles like wood chips, shavings, leaves, etc.

It's all about managing the mass. Or you could just keep dealing with mud. Some people in your climate convert to sand...that's always an option.

 

[pnwoldie]

Yes you are right beekissed I could turn it.

 

[RonP]

If it turns anaerobic and there is a stench... seems you need more carbons.

I started my run with 18 -24 inches free wood chips on top of heavy red clay soil.

Never an issue, I add carbons to keep the level consistently over 12 inches, and harvest the compost that exits the 1/2" hardware frame.

Here is an old photo. The litter is twice as deep currently.

 

[rbreininger]

My wife and I are new to chickens. We were given a small flock of 5 hens. My outside run is a 4x8 dog kennel with a plywood bottom bolted on that I inherited along with the rest of the materials, tiny coop, feeder, waterer, straw, etc.

We live in SW Wyoming where we have had lots of snow this winter. I finally covered the top of the run with a blue tarp to keep the snow and rain off. The straw was continually getting wet as we had an unusual February thaw. Any ideas on what would make a better base than straw on top of the plywood?

Come spring I plan to build a new coop with more room, roosting rods, poop platforms and actual nesting boxes.

Thanks

 

[aart]

My wife and I are new to chickens. We were given a small flock of 5 hens. My outside run is a 4x8 dog kennel with a plywood bottom bolted on that I inherited along with the rest of the materials, tiny coop, feeder, waterer, straw, etc.

We live in SW Wyoming where we have had lots of snow this winter. I finally covered the top of the run with a blue tarp to keep the snow and rain off. The straw was continually getting wet as we had an unusual February thaw. Any ideas on what would make a better base than straw on top of the plywood?

Come spring I plan to build a new coop with more room, roosting rods, poop platforms and actual nesting boxes.

Thanks

Welcome to BYC!

First, get rid of the plywood floor in the run......then read thru this thread and you'll find lots of options.
This is my favorite that I often share:
Here's a great description of contents and how to manage organic 'bedding' in a run or coop...and there's a great video of what it looks like.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1037998/muddy-run-help-please#post_16017992

ETA: Glad to hear you are going to build larger housing after seeing this:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1148145/was-given-these-hens-what-are-they#post_17936233
Would be interesting to see it without the snow...bet you think so to...haha!

 

[thefishguy77]

Hi all. Just building a new coop and run for my girls. We have 5-3year old girls and are planning on getting a dozen more. Maybe a rooster throwen in, not sure yet. We have a 20 acre lot but can't let the girls run free or we won't have any. Lots and lots of predators, cougar, bobcat, opossum, skunk, hawk, eagle, coyote, fox, raccoon, and that's just what I have seen. We live in the woods a few miles from White Pass Wa.

So I have built a 6x12 "barn" with. 4x6 clean area in the back for food and other storage. Going to do pine shavings in the coop with poop boards under the roost and 6 next boxes, yea I know they will only use 1-2 of them. Our outside run will be probably around 200 sqft shaded by trees. Currently they is some pasture grass and weeds on the floor but I don't give that 2 days once chickens are on it.

Our coop is going in the corner of our fenced in garden, septic drain field, we have to do 8ft fences to discourage the elk from just coming through. Going to do welded wire for a main fence and do at least 6ft of hardware cloth around the chicken run area with chicken wire for a top covering.
Really liking the build up of litter for the outside of the run. In the fall I can get truck loads of maple leaves from my neighbors lawn and have tons of hemlock, fir, alder trees on my place with more ferns and Oregon grape than I can count.

I am thinking I will use my small chipper to go through all the smaller branches I usually burn and chip them for the run and well as cut back the ferns before the new growth comes in. Any other ideas or suggestions are appreciated?

Edit: after the garden is harvested they will get to explore it for a few weeks to eat and poop in the beds.

 

[aart]

Hi all. Just building a new coop and run for my girls. We have 5-3year old girls and are planning on getting a dozen more. Maybe a rooster throwen in, not sure yet. We have a 20 acre lot but can't let the girls run free or we won't have any. Lots and lots of predators, cougar, bobcat, opossum, skunk, hawk, eagle, coyote, fox, raccoon, and that's just what I have seen. We live in the woods a few miles from White Pass Wa.

So I have built a 6x12 "barn" with. 4x6 clean area in the back for food and other storage. Going to do pine shavings in the coop with poop boards under the roost and 6 next boxes, yea I know they will only use 1-2 of them. Our outside run will be probably around 200 sqft shaded by trees. Currently they is some pasture grass and weeds on the floor but I don't give that 2 days once chickens are on it.

Our coop is going in the corner of our fenced in garden, septic drain field, we have to do 8ft fences to discourage the elk from just coming through. Going to do welded wire for a main fence and do at least 6ft of hardware cloth around the chicken run area with chicken wire for a top covering.
Really liking the build up of litter for the outside of the run. In the fall I can get truck loads of maple leaves from my neighbors lawn and have tons of hemlock, fir, alder trees on my place with more ferns and Oregon grape than I can count.

I am thinking I will use my small chipper to go through all the smaller branches I usually burn and chip them for the run and well as cut back the ferns before the new growth comes in. Any other ideas or suggestions are appreciated?

Edit: after the garden is harvested they will get to explore it for a few weeks to eat and poop in the beds.

Welcome to BYC @thefishguy77 !

I'd not put a chicken coop or run over a septic field, but that's just me...and I may have misunderstood your intent.

Would not not use chicken wire anywhere that's between chickens and predators, many can chew/tear thru it.
Use the same welded wire on roof of run as you use for the walls of run.
1/2" hardware cloth on bottom 2 feet of run will keep most of deep litter inside, you can harvest some from what falls thru.

Chipper for ramials is a great idea, but labor intensive.
Best to have a mix of sizes shapes materials...too much of any one things could cause problems.
Here's a great description of contents and how to manage organic 'bedding' in a run or coop...and there's a great video of what it looks like.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1037998/muddy-run-help-please#post_16017992

 

[paintedChix]

I have 5 chickens. My grass in my run is long gone. The chickensd I now have. Have dug holes in my run and lay in them during when it's hot out. The run looks like a war zone hit it chicken style. With all the holes. We are going to revise the coop in the spring. I want to work on the run also. This may sound silly but do they sell pine needles? I recycle newspapers. I've read the threads that say put newspapers in the run. So do I just lay the papers flat on the ground? How deep do I put them?Won't the chickes feet slip on the wet paper?. How often if I do use the newspapers. Do I apply them?When thney break down. Won't that just be as muddy for the birds?Wouldn't you need to put meal worms or food down over the papers. So to start the chickens scratching the ground?As you can read by this post. I have never did this before. I'm willing to try this as the run looks bad. Thank you for your replies

I do see that this was posted 5 months ago, but I had to reply as well.

I have used newspaper - shredded. To get the different sizes - you can hand shred as you sit in front of a movie/TV or use different size(s) of shredder machine paper. We pull off the plastic windows & staples and shred ALL junk mail (including glossy magazines & catalogs). We then add it in small amounts (1-50# feed bag of shredded paper in an 8x8' coop), then add a wheel barrel of leaves & weeds, pine needles/pony manure & whatever our mower picks up around the house. The chickens mix it - all different sizes and it works for us. I also toss in the coffee w/ filters from our Kuerig Coffee Maker, tea bags w/ the staples removed, tea leaves from "real" tea, all kitchen waste & flowers from Mothers' Day that have "passed on".

I've even started tossing in paper napkins, paper towels & paper plates. Takes a while to break down, but it does and if enough other materials in the run, it's not noticeable or unsightly. Will also start adding toilet paper rolls and paper towel rolls. Even hand torn up cardboard boxes can go in OR can line the edges of the run with it and the chickens will tear it up - adding it to the run "compost"...