Oregon mud/ feather footed chickens

[hundleychickens]

Hello I'm about 35 minutes west of Portland. I want to expand the breeds of chickens we have and was looking at some feather footed chickens. However, during the spring the run gets so muddy. We do throw grass clippings in there when it gets super bad but eventually they scratch at it so much it's just mud again. During the winter it's not bad because we free range them and they are hardly ever in the run. I was wondering if anyone else around here have any feather footed friends and how you deal with the muddiness? They are "farm" chickens so I don't and will not bathe them. (mostly because no one would help me with the task and its too cold outside to do so when they need it.)


a few of my feathered friends

 

[Alaskan]

Yep, the feather feet are a definite problem.

My chicken shed is usually dry and the floor is sand. The sand helps to scrape some of the mud off.

 

[hundleychickens]

I thought about sand. I also thought about how often they poop. How often do you have to clean the sand?

 

[Alaskan]

I have poop trays which gets most of the poop. Also, the PDZ in the poop trays helps lots with cleaning nasty stuff off of the feet.

My sand, I once every four months or maybe only twice a year, rake it a bit, and take out whatever got raked up.