Our N.E. Texas town has received alot of rain lately (thankfully as we have had drought conditions in the past few years) However...our chicken run is mushy and wet and VERY stinky!! We have clay soil...so poor drainage. We also have been putting pine shavings with our "girls" since they were chicks (they are now about 2 months old) I read on here that hydrated lime can help "sweeten" the situation but how much are we supposed to use? We sprinkled it about to where it was dusted white-ish...you know...a light dusting. The smell is some-what tolerable and I can certainly deal with that...my concern is ...is it dangerous to our chicks? Can that concentration of waste matter have ill affects on our birds? I thought we might shovel out down to the clay dirt and start over...perhaps NOT use the pine shavings this time? Also pray for some sunshine Thanks so very much!! This forum has been invaluable to us as we are only 2 months into chicken-dom. BTW I am the mother of Sunni...I thought I should mention this as Sunni wouldn't want anyone to think she would write in this manner..haha!!
We've been getting tons of snow in CO lately and my run is a mushy mess! I've shoveled off the top layer of yuck and put down some boards on the really bad part. I've also been told to put down sand to help with drainage. Hope this helps. I'm hoping things dry out here soon, too!! Sonja
I put down straw and rake it out every couple of days when it gets all wet and yucky like that. I have similar conditions to yours and it seems to work. Good luck!
I live in Upstate NY and am also in clay so my run gets pretty disgusting after the snow melts or it rains. I throw down some food grade DE that I get at Agway or you can buy it online. It really helps the odor and will absorb some of the moisture. When the smell is really bad in the spring I do it about twice a week and my chickens are fine. Fortunatley its been pretty dry here this spring (knock on wood)
I am in the bay area in CA with soggy winters. I use straw because it is cheap, but it does need some maintenance about once per week, as it gets packed down and icky. The best low maintenance stuff I've found for soggy conditions are big bark nuggets for landscaping.
