Really, really muddy coop!!! Help

[patandchickens]

Yeah, if this is hard to access and not going to be moved, you really want to use sand or gravel or a mix of the two. NOT anything organic.

You'll want at least 4-6" minimum. If there is plenty of headspace then you may be able to just chuck that in there and accept the 'higher floor'.

Otherwise, you would have to raise the whole coop up. As long as it is not actually anchored into the ground by sunken posts or anything like that, you can move it by jacking up one end at a time. BE CAREFUL

You can put down a piece of plywood or a large paver to set the jack on so it doesn't sink into the ground (you can use your car jack), or if you have a coupla strong friends, see if you can find a way to get a couple pieces of strong wood in there for leverage and have them do it. Block one end up, then the other. Now put a row of cinderblocks or concrete rubble or whatever around the edge to make a firm LEVEL sill that you can lower the coop back down onto. Put gravel in, and you should be good to go.

Good luck,

Pat

 

[Chicabee19]

ever wonder why they call this the bible belt, because they have to pray they are alive after the storms move through

OMGosh! You're right about that!

I grew up in OKC and I can remember spending nights in our storm shelter. Our neighbors spent 2 years building a really nice house about 15 miles away.

The very day they moved in a mile-wide tornado disappeared that house. They never found anything they had owned.

We were friends with 3 families who had lived in Moore between 10 and 15 years, but mysteriously they all moved away from there in the year before that town was wiped out by a massive tornado.

un​

 

[Katy]

Sprinkling some Stall Dry in the coop/run will also help until you can get some sand.

 

[jessupfamily]

I know people are saying no organic matter, but we use straw. The heat of the poo and the moisture and straw mix break down fast and make the most amazing soil. Super loomy and drains like a dream! We've been doing this for 2 years. And we lay straw after it rains, not before. The chickens really take care of spreading it, turning it, and helping it to break down.

 

[Dustoff79]

I am not sure why many people say "nothing organic" yes you can use sand and gravel which basically raises the level of your ground and the water remains between the dirt/clay and the top of the sand but, really does not improve drainage. If you improve the soil you will find the water drains away very fast. IMHO, I recommend you get some mulch and cover the run with 6"-8" deep. Yes the bottom will begin to decompose and as it does it will begin to improve the soil and attract earthworms and makes it much more interesting for the chickens. As it breaks down you just a little more each year as necessary. try an experiment and use sand for 1/2 and mulch for 1/2.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
This is not the typical experience of people on poorly-drained soil and/or with significant rain.

Typically, doing what you describe creates a 'mud bathtub' where water actually collects.

The main problem with putting organic stuff into a wet run is that it will decompose into un-removeable muck-mixed-with-your-soil, and if you have a serious drainage problem, i.e. the site stays too wet and puddley, this becomes a horrible stinking mud swamp.

If that hasn't happened to you, then you don't have a REAL drainage problem, trust me

The other problem with putting organic stuff into a wet run is that it keeps it damper longer (the organics, both in their original state and in their eventual composted-down-broken-apart state, act as a pretty good sponge -- that's why you add compost to garden soil that you don't want to have to water as often!). "Damper longer" with chicken poo on it means "smellier and more flies".

If one is on sandy soil, or in a relatively dry climate, organic matter may be fine as run footing, and may be sufficient to absorb what modest amount of water there is without becoming unpleasant. In a whole big lot of the USA, however, adding organic materials to an already wet and muddy run is asking for big trouble.

JME,

Pat