Show me your solutions for a muddy mucky chicken yard!

[CCUK]

Hi Friends,

As can be expected the chicken yard is worn down to dirt/mud when it rains. Here in the NE, we've had a persistent pattern of rain with very few sunny days to dry anything out. I've been tossing fresh straw in the run every few days to try to cover the mud; but you know chickens they scratch it all around anyway. Ridiculously, I even go out in the evening with "my big chicken foot" (a rake) and move the straw back around. Call me crazy, it's okay. By now, the straw is part of the muck. We need a long stretch of sunny, dry weather (ha!) and some water management work which will come soon. We are also extending the electric fencing out to give them some green pasture soon.

At this point I need to get all the old straw out of there and do something different. It's gotta be a health hazard for them, and it's no fun to fall down in for me!

Until then, and after actually, what tips do you guys have for managing a muddy, mucky run?

* Different cover material? (straw, wood chips, shavings, pine needles, etc.?)
* Install sand or gravel somehow?
* Pavement? (Just kidding).

Pictures of your yards appreciated if you have them!

TIA!

My run was a mud bath in the winter months and very slippy. So I put wood chips down.
This is what it was like before.

After the wood chip. I put about 4-6 inches down.

It looks great! This was in February '18 so 18 month's later after the chickens have been digging! This is now. It's raining.

It will be needing to be replaced this summer but it has worked incredibly well. Even in the hardest rainfall there is no chance of slipping over and the mud is minimal.

 

[Chickengene]

It gets wet alot here (HI) ... Researched what to do for ground cover, I was leaning towards sand until a Member reminded me it gets hard & heavy when wet. She recommended DLM. We have no access to lumber mills like you all, so I went with shavings that I can purchase at Dels/TSC. It's working great but during our hurricane last summer it got nasty & the ground was really wicking water, had a stream & puddles.

This year I'm trying the horse pellets; compressed sawdust, I think. We just went though weeks of rain but no flooding. However a section on the coop was getting pretty wet. So I raked back the shavings, added the pellets at dusk & covered with the shavings. The next morning, the pellets absorbed the water which the chickens mixed into the shavings. I just added more shavings if it got too wet. I was planning on shoveling out the wet sawdust but they got it before me.

I used straw years ago but when wet, it got to be a tangled mess. Read where someone had an old greenhouse with pack gravel floor what was the best. It's harder when the dirt starts wicking the wetness, that's when I have issues so I'm watching to see what more is said about ground covering. Although I'm 100% into my modified DLM ... I just keep adding shavings & about 2x a year I remove the scratched up dirt/shavings to use as ground cover out back.

What is DLM?

 

[Fatherdowling]

My friends are having the same unfortunate problem, and after days and weeks of throwing down pine shavings they finally came up a solution.

Pause for suspense!

They are going put about 6 inches of gravel down, to allow the rain time to soak into the ground without making everything muddy. On top of the 6 inches of gravel they will lay a 2 inch layer of pine shavings, so the chickens don't have to walk on gravel.

They are also installing a roof over their run, the roof will be installed with gutters, with the runoff from the roof being drained into a pond nearby through an irrigation system.

 

[aart]

It will be needing to be replaced this summer but it has worked incredibly well. Even in the hardest rainfall there is no chance of slipping over and the mud is minimal.

Just add more chips to it.

What is DLM?

Deep Litter Method.

They are going put about 6 inches of gravel down, to allow the rain time to soak into the ground without making everything muddy. On top of the 6 inches of gravel they will lay a 2 inch layer of pine shavings, so the chickens don't have to walk on gravel.

They are also installing a roof over their run, the roof will be installed with gutters, with the runoff from the roof being drained into a pond nearby through an irrigation system.

The roof and gutters should make the gravel unnecessary.
Gravel can become a cesspit filled with moisture and pulverized poop.
Chickens will dig thru 2" of shavings in about 30 seconds.

 

[feathermaid]

They are going put about 6 inches of gravel down, to allow the rain time to soak into the ground without making everything muddy. On top of the 6 inches of gravel they will lay a 2 inch layer of pine shavings, so the chickens don't have to walk on gravel.

They are also installing a roof over their run, the roof will be installed with gutters, with the runoff from the roof being drained into a pond nearby through an irrigation system.

I would never put gravel in my chicken run. What will they do when shavings, poop and gravel are all mixed together? It won't ever compost... I imagine it would be unpleasant for chickens to scratch through, too. Oh well, to each his own I guess. They must have a plan. Just the roof with proper drainage should allow for a nice dry dirt run... with shavings if they want.

 

[kathef64]

We have had lots of rain so I let yard dry out as best I can and then add straw for the muddy areas - works well for me with 10 chickens and they are out in my yard alot.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

Hasn't the weather just been something? I feel like going back to last July, it's just been rain at an epic rate.

I'm in Rhode Island and we got more rain in April than Seattle did.

I just put two bales of straw in the muckiest part of my run, which seems to be helping. That straw will break down quickly, though, so I'll be adding more organics...leaves, wood chips, more straw...whatever I can get my hands on.

Basically, my chicken run becomes a big compost pile, with any uneaten food scrap and the poop making up the "greens". At some points of the year, getting my hands on enough carbon can be a challenge, and this wet weather isn't helping.

I put ALL my fall leaves in the run. Last year that lasted me into late summer. This year, it's May and I've already added straw.

My son's cub scout pack is doing a cemetery cleanup in advance of Memorial Day. I'll be bringing home as much of the bagged up leaves, grass clippings, etc. as I can to add to the run and hopefully help cut down the muck!

 

[paintedChix]

I used straw years ago but when wet, it got to be a tangled mess. Read where someone had an old greenhouse with pack gravel floor what was the best. It's harder when the dirt starts wicking the wetness, that's when I have issues so I'm watching to see what more is said about ground covering. Although I'm 100% into my modified DLM ... I just keep adding shavings & about 2x a year I remove the scratched up dirt/shavings to use as ground cover out back.

I'm really surprised. I remember HI as having loads and lots of green materials. I would think you could do some type of chop & drop with large leaves for DLM in your run. Maybe start by removing the straw mess (not sure if you really need to or not??)

Maybe check with some of the "plantations" around - pineapple plants, rice hulls, the cutting from any/all local gardens?, leaves during the fall, banana tree "leaves". I remember doing quite a bit of yard clean up when we were there, many years ago (1970 - 1974). We were on both Ford Island (2 yrs) and later near Barber's Point (I think? I don't really remember now exactly where we were).

Anyhoo - mix lots of different size materials - even more straw. Wood chips if you can get them. What about bamboo "platforms" to get them raised up out of the water for now? Or "reeds" that are used for thatching? Even bamboo will eventually break down if not treated, LOL. But that's exactly what you want. The different sizes of material will allow your DLM to breathe as the chickens mix it about for you - and it should all break down into a lovely run area that drains well.

For original poster - re-directing the water as stated above will help a lot - then different DLM materials. Instead of some pics from the Hurricanes last year, here's a link to the album after the Hurricane and then later as we put the chicken pens back into order....

Hurricane Florence - 2018

and here's an album that shows different things since we started with chickens (actually doesn't show too much of our original 3 yrs of free range, roost in the barn stuff)...

Coops, Cattle Panel, DLM & Sheds

 

[OhZark Biddies]

I have a covered run with pine chips/shavings... and I’ve just had to bite my tongue when everyone else has been complaining about the mud the last several months, because I don’t want them to think I’m being smug....

But the Faverolles feathered feet have stayed nice and dry all winter and all spring... and it’s pretty much been wet here since November....

So I “smuggly” recommend a covered run or partially covered... if that’s an option.

I’ve just added a bag/bale of bedding here and there for the last year to build it up along with a couple bags of leaves this fall ...

... much of it was the larger horse bedding... some of it was the ‘easy pick’ style bedding... it’s worked quite well...

I have given them some peat moss to dust in a couple of times ... but now they just scratch down into the dirt below the bedding here and there...

Not sure if that helps, but it is what has worked for me.

 

[katylox]

Contact a local tree trimming company and ask them to dump a load of mulch, near you. They have to dump their trucks many times daily. I use it many many ways .