Suggestions for a VERY muddy run?

[Colberon]

I live in Northern Maine and have been away on vacation for 9 days, when I left the ground was frozen solid, but spring appears to have sprung while I was gone, resulting in my run being EXTREMELY muddy. The thaw has also thawed the feces, and now it's a mucky mess! Any suggestions on what I can put down to prevent my 6 hens from walking through the mix of mud and poo and becoming sick?

P.S. Their run is 5'x15'.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

Wood chips have helped a ton with my mud mess.

 

[aart]

I live in Northern Maine and have been away on vacation for 9 days, when I left the ground was frozen solid, but spring appears to have sprung while I was gone, resulting in my run being EXTREMELY muddy. The thaw has also thawed the feces, and now it's a mucky mess! Any suggestions on what I can put down to prevent my 6 hens from walking through the mix of mud and poo and becoming sick?

P.S. Their run is 5'x15'.

What do you use for bedding in the run?
Put more of that in there....tho coarse wood chippings(from a tree trimmer) are best, IMO.

 

[BarnyardChaos]

I've been dealing with it, too. I'm just so bleeping sick of the MUD and MUCK and STINK. Even said to the hubby just yesterday that I don't mind the cold as long as it's DRY! I've thrown down hay everywhere (free supply), and straw from a couple of broken bales, over a thick base of old wood chips already - and still the muck squishes up through the hay. Wish I could find a good free supply of wood chips; that would be better. Well, that and good drainage!

We'll be moving this summer. We are swapping houses with our son. (His family is growing and needs a bigger house, and we need a smaller house with no stairs. Win-win.) We plan to locate the coops on the highest point of the property, where he had his above-ground swimming pool over a generous base of sand. (Pool = electrical outlet and water hydrant installed already. ) So.... that and wood chips should be perfect. Hopefully, this has been my last year keeping chickens in a muddy run! Woohoo!

 

[FortFusterCluck]

Wood shavings and sand is what we use here in Kentucky during the rainy season.

 

[peepdaddy]

Nothing worse than a nasty, muddy run. As someone from Kentucky I can attest to the fact that KY clay is nasty stuff. Mixing in some chicken manure makes for a horrible mess! I got tired of dealing with the mess and put a roof over all my runs. Although a little rain blows in occasionally they are much, much better.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

I've been dealing with it, too. I'm just so bleeping sick of the MUD and MUCK and STINK. Even said to the hubby just yesterday that I don't mind the cold as long as it's DRY! I've thrown down hay everywhere (free supply), and straw from a couple of broken bales, over a thick base of old wood chips already - and still the muck squishes up through the hay. Wish I could find a good free supply of wood chips; that would be better. Well, that and good drainage!

We'll be moving this summer. We are swapping houses with our son. (His family is growing and needs a bigger house, and we need a smaller house with no stairs. Win-win.) We plan to locate the coops on the highest point of the property, where he had his above-ground swimming pool over a generous base of sand. (Pool = electrical outlet and water hydrant installed already. ) So.... that and wood chips should be perfect. Hopefully, this has been my last year keeping chickens in a muddy run! Woohoo!

I did straw this year to help the chickens with the wet snow. It helped in the short term but now that the snow is gone I just have a bunch of wet straw that's really hard to turn over. Lesson learned. I am going to stock up on sand as soon as the weather dries out a bit. Your new setup sounds ideal!

 

[Colberon]

I did straw this year to help the chickens with the wet snow. It helped in the short term but now that the snow is gone I just have a bunch of wet straw that's really hard to turn over. Lesson learned. I am going to stock up on sand as soon as the weather dries out a bit. Your new setup sounds ideal!

I did straw last year, oh what a mess it was, never again! Try to large wood chips, they have been the best yet for us.

 

[Colberon]

We were able to find some pelletized pine and purchased one bag to see if they could help solve the problem, we used these to put in their sun room. I then bagged up all the wood shavings from inside the coop and we dumped them in the run. They are very clean because our chickens typically spend most of their days outside in their sun room and when in they are inside the coop they love to be on their perch, I have attached pictures, thank you all for your advice! <3

 

[Colberon]

What do you use for bedding in the run?
Put more of that in there....tho coarse wood chippings(from a tree trimmer) are best, IMO.

We actually use the coarse wood chippings, the problem is we aren't able to get any right now. We have a big pile we restock from in the warmer months, but it is under snow/ice currently and would be all other places. We still have a couple feet of snow and ice.