Wet stinky run....

[blackdog043]

The trouble with wood chips is that it's hard on the chicken's feet. Bumble foot. Another thing, the water wicks easier with the wood, and it gets moldy, mildewed, fungus, etc.

Did you have personal experience with this happening?

I use a lot of wood chips in my deep litter mixture and haven't had any problems. My run is covered, but gets some run off water into it, if it rains enough. Our son's deep litter is mainly wood chips in an open run and he has not had any problems. Both of these set ups produce some good quality soil.

 

[NewBoots]

This is a great thread, loads of good suggestions and beautiful coops.

Edited to change goop to coop

 

[WthrLady]

The WHOLE yard is a low spot
If I tell/ask my hubby that it needs to be moved or lifted.. this’ll be him.... and he is NOT an angry person! At all.. ever!!
I’ll just try adding lots, and lots... and lots of “stuff” and see how that goes..
I picked that spot cuz that is the one spot in the yard that doesn’t actually “hold” water.. it really is/was one of the dry spots when it rains/floods... it’s getting wet from the surrounding water but the puddles in there are from their “dust bath holes”... if you look at the rest it’s just wet and muddy... so I’m thinking if I add a bunch more stuff then that just might do the trick.. I’m just gonna have to try and see what works best..
I’ll let yall know
Thank you SO much!!

LOL> The whole STATE is a low spot!

The cool thing about adding in pine shavings, maybe on top of sand, is that as you clean them out and they decompose, you are composting in place (brown shavings + chicken poo (green)), you can use it to fill low spots in the yard. You're basically making soil in place. I've been filling spots on the acreage for 5 years with leavings and mulch from the coop and run.

 

[WthrLady]

I use the larger pine shavings (not pine straw- but man I miss that stuff), not the fine shavings. The fine stuff breaks down WAY too fast.

 

[WhoDatChick]

Yup, the French Drain uphill was me. We deep litter mulch our run, but the coop is down hill from a whole lot of more hill, and halfway down the full hill. When we would get 3-8 inches of rain in a hurry, which happens a lot, it was running through the run. One day it actually flooded and we ended up in there with 5 gallon buckets.

Since we installed the drain uphill, the water from uphill is diverted around the coop entirely. Some moisture with deep litter is needed. A festering swamp is not.

I just re-read this... what type of “mulch” do you mean?
Is it the mulch used for flower beds?

 

[WthrLady]

It can be. But I have found that sometimes it has additives, like thorns, mold, or sharp edges that I don't want in the run with little feet.

It should be called deep litter composting. You add brown materials and the spilled feed and the chicken poo is the green material for the natural composting process. As your brown materials (pine shavings, mulch, leaf litter, dried grass clippings, hay, or straw) combine with and break down with green materials (chicken poo, feed, fresh grass, and veggies that you toss in) they create soil in your run. Worms and other organisms are drawn to your run to help with the process. The whole system works to not only make soil, but to entertain your hens (they LOVE digging in it, and bathing in it), and BONUS. every six months or so you get rich, free DIRT! The deep litter composting also is a huge deterrent to flies.

I just add pine shavings as they break down, and in April and October, rake and shovel it down to bare earth and add in fresh pine shavings to start over

 

[WhoDatChick]

I use the larger pine shavings (not pine straw- but man I miss that stuff), not the fine shavings. The fine stuff breaks down WAY too fast.

That is what I think I was leaning towards for now... some pine shavings and sand..

You should see the yard now! I tried to get a pic but too dark... the entire yard is level water! ALL of it! It’s STILL raining.. but the coop is still the same as those pics I posted earlier... water does not sit in there.. just in the dust holes. So I think if I add stuff it’ll raise it enough.... and help dry it out some.

 

[WthrLady]

My mom in Ohio just called and said her's is like that too. Insane amount of water this year. I prefer rain over snow, and all of it over ice.

I'm not a fan of trudging through snow for livestock.

OK, what I'm really not a fan of is dressing up like the stay puffed marshmallow man.

 

[WthrLady]

I use one bale (plastic cube thingy) per 100 sq feet. I don't even spread it. I plop it in the middle of the run, dump some seed on top and get out of the way. The girls spend HOURS scratching and spreading, and digging. It's a hoot!

 

[WhoDatChick]

This is how it was in the summer with the wood chips