Muddy run suggestions

[Crow-ded house]

With all the rain/ flooding here in OK our dlm is not working anymore. It was great for normal seasons but no matter where we look there is wet soggy boggy ground. We are in the process of building a new run on other side of the yard anyway. So we are putting a sand base, pea gravel on top of the sand and then pine bark on top of all. I thought adding pea gravel in the mix it would help in the future if we get floods again. We have placed bricks and pallets in their existing run so they can be outside. Any thoughts?

 

[Crow-ded house]

Also could we not just lightly hose it down on a regular basis to break up the poop?

 

[rosemarythyme]

Sounds like you may have existing drainage issues. DLM isn't magic, the water has to have somewhere to go or yes it will become waterlogged and boggy. How is the drainage in the new location?

Also hosing down poop is unfortunately a great way to get it lodged between all the gravel and start making things stinky.

 

[Crow-ded house]

No drainage issues until the floods. We have had heavy rains in the past but nothing like this. Levees about to be breached, dams releasing large amounts of water daily, evacuations north and south of us. Our area is saturation. There is no good spot in our county right now except in a few places. I was windering if the sand, pea gravel and pine bark would be a good choice in normal years. I can always put yard stuff on top of all of that. Thought pea gravel and sand would help with muddy issues if we ever get another flood year like this.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Ugh with flooding it's going to be tough no matter what you're using as litter, simply because the water is just sitting there and there's nowhere for it to go until the flood receeds. Putting down pallets and pavers for temporary relief was probably the best thing you could do in this situation.

If there isn't a mud issue normally then I would think the sand and gravel aren't necessary, since it sounds like the litter was working as intended before this point?

 

[aart]

So we are putting a sand base, pea gravel on top of the sand and then pine bark on top of all. I thought adding pea gravel in the mix it would help in the future if we get floods again.

Will you contain this to 'raise the ground' permanently?
Dicey using sand and gravel as it could just end up getting mixed up in whatever plant based litter you use.
Tough situation.
Best of cLuck fingering it out.

 

[Crow-ded house]

I was planning on putting more bags of pine/cypress bark nuggets on top of sand and pea gravel over time to realky build it up. Hopefully that would be overkill as we hope to never again experience this weather pattern. Heard it has been 30 yrs since last one. But i will not be using hay again. Just the bark, some limbs, twigs and leaves. Might not use grass again either.