Thanks to the rain my run is now poop soup, Anyone else

[Zookeeper9000]

Well the title says it all. We have had rain for 2 weeks just enough to turn the run into poop soup. This makes for a very dangerous adventure when I go to put them in at night. I have already had one mishap and had to use the hose to get the goop off of me before sneaking in to shower and I don't, won't, have another one. Can I put a 6 or so inch layer of pine shavings in the run to help cut down on this. I have 3 runs and it only happens in my big run where all the roo's are. Thanks for any advice with this.

 

[dixygirl]

You do not put pine shavings in an outside run! You only use pine shavings in an indoor coop because when they do get wet they smell like slop, begin to rot and stink. They must be tossed in the trash immediately or it is unhygienic. Thus they are a waste in an outdoor environment.

To dry an outside run I would add gravel covered with sand. Or you could try to add peat moss. It takes a flood to wet it down.

 

[Hangin Wit My Peeps]

I would use sand/gravel, it will dry out in no time. It will make the smell worse to use shavings or straw/hay.

 

[al6517]

I have had the same problem this past week also, my runs too are poop soup, we got a couple of days of dry weather and i put 2 bales of straw hay down to soak up the wet stuff, then raked it all out to the compost pile. I am so tired of it I decided to put down a 4" concrete pad. I thought it would really be a tough job but it was not that bad, and yes I did get super sore, but got it done in a couple of hours. I tried a method that is pretty easy and fool proof. since then it has rained and the runoff just flows out low end. I should have done this a long time ago.

 

[Zookeeper9000]

Thanks didn't think of the pine shavings making it worse was just trying to figure out how not to take a soup poop bath again.

al6517, I would be interested in knowing how you did the concrete as I am tired of this and know it can't be good for my roo's feet, I know they are headed for the freezer but I am honor bound to make sure they have a good life till they get there.

 

[nccountrygirl]

Oh yeah the chickens are loving it and it's still raining, silly birds.

 

[chcknrs]

I had the same problem, so I got most of the run covered with a tarp the other day when it was sunny, and threw down the shavings the same day, as well as a liberal dosing of DE. The chickens scratched all of the shavings out of the run within 24 hours, and now it is nice, dry and not stinky.

 

[Chickaroo!]

Here's what we did to the run for our chickens.

We've finished covering the other two pvc pieces since this pic was taken. So, now only part of the run is muddy, but the covered part is dry as a bone!

 

[max13077]

That's very nice!!

 

[debilorrah]

We use straw and rake it out and compost it every Saturday. No poop soup so far