The run is a muddy mess. What to put down other than sand?

[emerald eyes]

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I put the grass clippings in the run, they usually have a field day.

 

[Hunter0704]

If you need or want to cover one or more sides of a run....not one that is huge, of course....Home Depot has WHITE tarps which lets light into the run (whereas Lowes and Home Depot have dark blue or gray tarps in their stores)...I just ordered one online since the white aren't available in the store...11 x 9 for $19.99 which I thought was pretty reasonable. It covered one side and 1/2 of the end of the run, up to the door. Used lots of wood screws with washers to hold it in place so don't think the wind will get in to pull it out or tear it. We have terrible winds in the winter so I covered the side that always gets the worst of it. At least my birds won't be blowing across the run and they will keep drier.

Equine Pellets are great for absorbing water...as it absorbs it turns into a saw dust looking stuff that is sort of puffy. You can stir it up and spread it around if you want. It also dries quickly plus it does not get moldy.

 

[BlazeJester]

I tried leaves...maybe not enough...I have 3 giant oaks in my front yard and several smaller ones that refuse to completely lose their leaves, so I'm not at any sort of lack for supply. Every time they get wet they stay saturated (the ground here is silty clay) and I doubt mildewing leaves are much good for chickens. Think I'll be trying a layer of sand with leaves on top so the water can go somewhere when there's a 3-day downpour.

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[Katydid2011]

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X2 - Except for the bit about straw. Straw quickly becomes a thick, rotted mess and the ground beneath it never dries out. Hay isn't much better. We're blessed with tons of deciduous trees and we gather the leaves and barrow them out to the runs where the chickens scratch away and mulch them down for us. We also take leaves from our suburban neighbors who previously had nowhere to take them apart from hauling them to the recycling center for mulching. By the time Spring comes around we have fabulous mulch to til into our gardens and share with friends. We also cut branches and lay them around the coop; logs make excellent perches and the chickens love to sit and preen on them.

 

[BlazeJester]

You do not have a problem with the leaves rotting? Do you have a base layer of something permeable or is your run covered? Just trying to figure out this (current) mess.

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X2 - Except for the bit about straw. Straw quickly becomes a thick, rotted mess and the ground beneath it never dries out. Hay isn't much better. We're blessed with tons of deciduous trees and we gather the leaves and barrow them out to the runs where the chickens scratch away and mulch them down for us. We also take leaves from our suburban neighbors who previously had nowhere to take them apart from hauling them to the recycling center for mulching. By the time Spring comes around we have fabulous mulch to til into our gardens and share with friends. We also cut branches and lay them around the coop; logs make excellent perches and the chickens love to sit and preen on them.

 

[Katydid2011]

If the run is truly boggy, hoe a trench to the lowest point, dig down an area that will act as a cistern that water will drain into. Ours is circular, about 4 feet round and 3 feet deep, lined with large stones at the rim, then filled with bits of broken brick and concrete block, topped with round rock. The water drains right down and hasn't overflowed despite the ridiculous amount of rain that we get here. Our intent wasn't cosmetic but practical. We needed a place for the rain to run into. Still, people often comment on the fact that we have a dry creek bed landscaped into our chicken run!

It keeps the ground from holding too much moisture so the chickens can scratch around in the leaves in their run.

Edited to add: I didn't see the question above as we posted at the same time. Our run is exceptionally large, more like a small paddock, and a section of it is covered by a metal awning with a footing of 3/4" minus (crushed rock), topped with coarse sand. The remainder of the run, the open portion, is just untreated ground with a thick layer of leaves, some branches, and we also use pallets tipped together to make perches and teepees. The trench, lined with rock, runs from the highest point in the run to the lowest point, which is where we placed the cistern. It sounds like a lot of work but it wasn't. My daughter and I dug and lined the cistern in just a few hours.

 

[Katydid2011]

P.S. We don't have any problem with the leaves becoming nasty clumps like straw does. The chickens are constantly scratching their way through the leaves and they turn them into beautiful decomposed mulch. The ground isn't slimy and gross underneath it. When we remove the leaves in late Spring, it's a gorgeous mulch and the ground beneath isn't any wetter than the ground anywhere else. For us, it's the perfect solution. I think the cistern (It's not really a cistern but I don't know what else to call it) helps a lot.

 

[BlazeJester]

The cistern is a great idea. Once it stops raining my run is getting one!! Thanks for sharing!

 

[Marcymom3]

Just wondering if there could be a place on your property that drains better? This is obviously not the best time to make a move, but it would be worth considering it in the future as is the cistern, mini drain field idea. Sounds like you'd have to get a whole lot of rock down before your bog improved. As others have said, the whole straw and leaf idea has it's drawbacks but will definitely do until you figure out what you are going to do. If this is your choice, definitely add enough so that water drains through it. The chicken poop smell is so much worse on wet ground, leaves, straw! I would also like to add that wet leaves are pretty slippery when wet too.

We are fortunate that our yard is sloped gently, and the area we picked to place our coop and run is at the top of the slope. We added sand to our run on top of the existing soil, without a rock or gravel base. I put a mound of paver base (fine gravel and sand) around the outside perimeter. After a few months we added more sand to the run and when it got toward the rainy fall season we put a tarp over the run. Right now there is a combination of the wood shavings that fall out of the coop, the sand, some peat moss, and DE. It is very dry and the sand is very loose except for the inside one foot around the edges. Spreading some scratch and/or BOSS will keep the chickens moving around whatever you put in there.

Good luck!

 

[hannakat]

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