The Shovelbeaks are at it again

[Jennifer_M]

My ducks completely destroyed my backyard last year, like not a blade of grass left, literally. They have their duck house, small pond and an area that they can be fenced off into by their house but they are spoiled and I let them have the run of the whole yard half the time. I have had them fenced off from the yard and it is now fully grown back with a little help from some grass seed. There has been TONS of rain in our area this year and the area in front of their house and where the gates are is a complete mud hole. They shovel-beak all the small holes into 1 giant hole and then it fills with water and eats my boots when I put them up for the night.

I was wondering if anyone has done a floating yard or French drain system in their runs/coop areas. It's ok when I dries out but I doesn't stop raining long enough for that to happen. I got some fake grass from Sam's and I was going to do a slightly raised area with rock under it to help drain the water off and keep them out of the majority of the mud.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

 

[katiebrock]

I am interested in putting I. A French drain system or something similar as well, so I am curious to see the responses!

 

[Isaac 0]

How big is the area?A french drain would work in a small run but as for the yard i would make sure its graded properly for adequate runoff and test the soil to see if it needs more organic matter for proper water absorption.Keep them off the yard whens its wet as they will probably just compact the soil more making the problem worse.

 

[Miss Lydia]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/search/65269568/?q=french+drain&o=date&c[node]=9