What bedding to use in chicken run that is poorly drained and wet

[Skyla]

Hi,
My chicken coop is in a low area and the run is a disaster to say the least, muddy, wet, and slimy. I plan on moving the whole setup and start on new ground. Where I'm moving is at the same ground level so I plan on building the ground up so hopefully it can drain better, however I still think it will get pretty wet. After reading ideas of what to use as bedding for a run a lot of people suggested the deep litter method, or putting in a lot of organic matter such as leaves and grass clippings and hay. My concern is that with how wet the ground gets the bedding will end up getting slimy, wet, moldy, and just overall nasty, similar to how the organic matter in my old run behaved. Do you guys have any suggestion that would be a safer bet against the wet ground? Would wood chips be a better alternative in my situation? Thanks!

 

[rosemarythyme]

Regardless of what litter you use, if the area stays wet all the time, you still might have issues - maybe not as bad as before, but wet + chicken poop = nasty, smelly mess.

I'm wondering if it's possible to build up the area first with a lot of soil or something as a base, then do deep litter over it for drainage from the run into the soil below (which may still need drains added).

 

[3KillerBs]

I suggest that you start with a French drain or grass swales around the area to divert as much water as possible.

If you can't build up the ground itself, a thick layer of wood chips as the base for a deep litter system might be your best bet.

 

[Acre4Me]

My neighbors had a wet/messy run, so they put a lot of gravel down, then hay and shavings, etc. the gravel worked for them, but is not what the birds are walking on.

In your case, diverting water will help, but may not be very effective, depending on the lay of the land/climate, etc. you don’t have your general location listed, so we don’t know how humid/dry, or hot/cold are your extremes.

depending on which is more doable, you could build up the run area with dirt, grass the dirt on the outside of the run, and cover the inside with your choice: large chipped/cut wood and bark (garbage from a tree service), or if run is covered leave some as dirt, and then you can also place some grass frames (grass grows in a frame that is covered with wire so the chickens can’t scratch it out and kill it). If bringing in dirt isn’t a good possibility (too expensive or something), then you can use blocks or logs to create the border of the run and fill with the chopped tree and bark from a tree company (often available free or low cost). It is good to have a dryer dirt are of the run for dust baths. We added peat moss, wood ashes, sawdust to the dirt area in the run, for a looser/dustier area they use for dust baths.


our run was pretty wet too. We placed boards around the lower part of the chain link fence. Filled with a literal truck load of chipped wood from a tree service. we have been building out the roof over the run, so that the run stays drier and the door doesn’t get frozen shut. The roof takes time because building a sturdy structure for the roof takes time. We have a snow load to worry about here.

 

[Trisseh]

Any chance of roadwork being done in your area? Often you can get cheap or free “fill” from them when they’re clearing ditches and whatnot. That would be helpful for building up the area, if you’re going that route. Otherwise I think I would go with gravel with a drain of some sort, or tiling, but that would be $$, and then top with coarse sand, or another type of bedding if that is your preference. I don’t know that I would want to try to do the deep litter method on top of gravel, I think it would be difficult to clean out when the time came.

 

[Skyla]

Regardless of what litter you use, if the area stays wet all the time, you still might have issues - maybe not as bad as before, but wet + chicken poop = nasty, smelly mess.

I'm wondering if it's possible to build up the area first with a lot of soil or something as a base, then do deep litter over it for drainage from the run into the soil below (which may still need drains added).

When I build the area up to the new spot, I still need to do more research, but I plan on putting down landscaping fabric, then a base of gravel topped with sand or dirt, or both. I heard that this allows drainage. I'll put the chicken run bedding on top of the soil, but I want to refrain from deep litter for the first few months incase it doesn't drain as well and go with something safer so I don't have a huge mess. However I'm not sure what "something safer" would be. (When I say safer I mean it won't mold or get nasty when it's often wet).

 

[Trisseh]

Coarse sand on top of screen on top of gravel perhaps? Good drainage, easy to clean, and you could probably add deep litter on top later if that’s what you want to do...

 

[Skyla]

I suggest that you start with a French drain or grass swales around the area to divert as much water as possible.

If you can't build up the ground itself, a thick layer of wood chips as the base for a deep litter system might be your best bet.

I plan on building up the ground but maybe i'll also try diverting the water. Would using wood chips as just the base, the main bedding, without anything on top work well too?

 

[Skyla]

My neighbors had a wet/messy run, so they put a lot of gravel down, then hay and shavings, etc. the gravel worked for them, but is not what the birds are walking on.

In your case, diverting water will help, but may not be very effective, depending on the lay of the land/climate, etc. you don’t have your general location listed, so we don’t know how humid/dry, or hot/cold are your extremes.

depending on which is more doable, you could build up the run area with dirt, grass the dirt on the outside of the run, and cover the inside with your choice: large chipped/cut wood and bark (garbage from a tree service), or if run is covered leave some as dirt, and then you can also place some grass frames (grass grows in a frame that is covered with wire so the chickens can’t scratch it out and kill it). If bringing in dirt isn’t a good possibility (too expensive or something), then you can use blocks or logs to create the border of the run and fill with the chopped tree and bark from a tree company (often available free or low cost). It is good to have a dryer dirt are of the run for dust baths. We added peat moss, wood ashes, sawdust to the dirt area in the run, for a looser/dustier area they use for dust baths.


our run was pretty wet too. We placed boards around the lower part of the chain link fence. Filled with a literal truck load of chipped wood from a tree service. we have been building out the roof over the run, so that the run stays drier and the door doesn’t get frozen shut. The roof takes time because building a sturdy structure for the roof takes time. We have a snow load to worry about here.

My general location is northern WI so we also get quite a bit of snow. It sounds like gravel is going to be a good thing to add when building up the run as a lot of people have suggested it. Grass frames also sounds very nice, the idea of the chickens unable to completely destroy any grass is very compelling. I'll have to see if we have anyone near us that we can get wood chips from. Thank you for your reply!

 

[Skyla]

Any chance of roadwork being done in your area? Often you can get cheap or free “fill” from them when they’re clearing ditches and whatnot. That would be helpful for building up the area, if you’re going that route. Otherwise I think I would go with gravel with a drain of some sort, or tiling, but that would be $$, and then top with coarse sand, or another type of bedding if that is your preference. I don’t know that I would want to try to do the deep litter method on top of gravel, I think it would be difficult to clean out when the time came.

There is some roadwork being done and I am very intrigued at the chance of getting cheap or even free fill. If I add gravel I plan for there to be a thick enough layer of dirt on top or as you said in your other reply a screen so that the gravel never actually makes it up to the surface of the run. So hopefully it won't be difficult to clean. Thanks for the reply!