What to do in the wet weather?

[Teila]

Living in a sub tropical climate we experience torrential downpours and minor to major flooding on a regular basis. The garden slopes from left to right of the picture so the rain coming off the left side of the peaked roof ran through the run to lower ground on our previous set up:



I agree that drainage is definitely the key so that you are not dealing with a wet run to begin with but sometimes even that is not enough:



Our previous set up was definitely not the best for our climate but on those occasions we were dealing with sludge we have found scattered straw the best way to stop the girls and us slipping in mud.

I note on the video that the gentleman was turning over the dirt to find dry underneath. That is good if you have not had torrential rain but I could turn over deeper dirt than he was and still have sludge. I also note his comment about wanting an open air feel which is why the run is not covered; having a covered run does not mean it is not open and as my gals do not do wet, they like having somewhere dry to shelter.

We now have a raised coop with a slated timber floor for coolness on our hot and humid nights but importantly we have deep litter in a covered run. Now, the rain coming off the slanted [not peaked] roof runs down and away from the coop. The chickens and deep litter remain pretty dry even while the surrounding grass is under water.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

I'll join in with the 100% agreement that you must have drainage to prevent free standing water in the run.

We chose to cover our run (after one season open) as here in NW Oregon, we, uhm, get rain...not the downpour type like in your land downunder...just days and days (and days) of constant drizzle...from morning to night, and morning again. (I once counted 92 days without a break...Lewis and Clark even grouse about the rain in their journal noting the country to be the "rainy-est country ever.").

We have clay soil, so sand would soon become cement. I know. We tried amending with sand once. (They actually sell Portland mix just across the river). Of my chicken friends, they all curse the sand attempt in my area. It simply stagnates.

Pine needles, which I have many from the trees, are an absolute pain. They never seem to break down nor absorb anything.

I've tried straw, which for us didn't break down enough nor keep the smell down. It also tends to mold easily in our area.

So for us, it has been deep litter pine shavings or finer to medium bark chips. (The tree trimmer companies and even the power company will deliver free chips to your door if you get on their list).

Pine shavings are better for me in the immediate run, however I have the bark chips on the large yard run, otherwise, we'd have solid mud everywhere. My poor broody Silkies and feather footed Cochins....I have to keep them on bark chips 24x7 or they are a balled, muddy mess, just waiting for bumble foot.

When I clean, I simply dump the pine shavings from the coop into the run. The pine shavings degrade nicely as mixed by the birds so that the carbon in the wood is in contact with the fecal material. That really helps keep the smell down...plus the pine helps. If its been especially rainy (we have about 6 different names for rain here), I'll add some fresh pine shavings on top of the coop toss out.

Then about 2 to 3 times a year, I let my gardening friends know that I've got black gold for them again.. The deep littered pine shavings in the runs makes excellent garden compost They come running with buckets and shovels in hand and gleefully scoop it up. (I have a strong Tom Sawyer streak.)

That's what seems to work for us.
LofMc (in the great Northwet)

 

[aart]

Then about 2 to 3 times a year, I let my gardening friends know that I've got black gold for them again.. The deep littered pine shavings in the runs makes excellent garden compost They come running with buckets and shovels in hand and gleefully scoop it up. (I have a strong Tom Sawyer streak.)

Hahaha!!! This cracked me up!
I've done the same with poop board siftings, rotating buckets to a friend who 'composts'.

Are the pine shavings the bagged kind or the tree trimmings kind?
Does that wood component totally break down in just a few months in your climate?

I got some power company tree trimming stuff this year...buddy had it sitting for a year or more.
Of a couple 2 yard loads, one was mostly hardwood, the other was mostly pine and had a ton of pine needles in it.
Mixed with an almost equal amount of dry leaves from my land, the run are now looking good.
Will be interesting to see how it decomposes over the next year......with contributions of material and labor from the chooks.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Hahaha!!! This cracked me up!
I've done the same with poop board siftings, rotating buckets to a friend who 'composts'.

Are the pine shavings the bagged kind or the tree trimmings kind?
Does that wood component totally break down in just a few months in your climate?

I got some power company tree trimming stuff this year...buddy had it sitting for a year or more.
Of a couple 2 yard loads, one was mostly hardwood, the other was mostly pine and had a ton of pine needles in it.
Mixed with an almost equal amount of dry leaves from my land, the run are now looking good.
Will be interesting to see how it decomposes over the next year......with contributions of material and labor from the chooks.

The pine shavings are the bagged kind you get at the feed store. As I get the smaller shavings (not sawdust but not the larger chip), those decompose in about 6 months (or less) in my soil conditions, nicely turning into compost (which probably should still be aged a bit more due to the raw content before putting on the garden.)

The bark chips take at least a year, usually two, to turn into nice compost, depending on the size of the chip. Since I'm getting predominately free chipping, it varies in size and content. It is mostly fir with the short fir needles that are ground fine with some oak and maple. It works really, really well to keep down the mud and slowly compost. Hubby doesn't want to have to re-bark every year, so the every 2 years is a good schedule, and I note that about that time, its become more soil than bark.

My yard used to be solid clay. The kind you could make clay pots from. My daughter has married an organic farmer and now lives in Tennessee. She came home from Christmas after about a year and oogled my yard with the now rich black soil. She wishes she could haul it back with her for their farm as she says it is top quality. For that, I can thank the pine shavings, bark dust, my clay soil, and hard working poultry.

I like the idea of the bucket swap. Thrifty friends are valuable indeed.

LofMc

 

[Folly's place]

Something to check on when using free chips; in the Midwest, we have black walnut trees, which are wonderful, but toxic to some plants and the shavings/ chips are very bad for horses. I have no idea about poultry, but at least try to avoid the black walnut if possible. Mary

 

[ChickNanny13]

Lady of McCamley

Your DLM sound GREAT! We're having one of those "rain every day" bouts now, didn't think the DLM would work but it does

We got clay soil with a layer of fine pine shavings (feed store) & it's working great, wish I could get some pine needles, that would really be the cats meow. Maybe I should collect some discarded Christmas Trees, hey great thought. Any particular kind of pine? We only get what's shipped in from the Mainland.

 

[aart]

Something to check on when using free chips; in the Midwest, we have black walnut trees, which are wonderful, but toxic to some plants and the shavings/ chips are very bad for horses. I have no idea about poultry, but at least try to avoid the black walnut if possible. Mary

That would be about impossible when getting a whole load of free chips...unless they were doing a load full on local property you could scope out before hand.
Another concern about trimmings was the guy in MO who had a freshly ground batch come in with aspergillus, confirmed by local ag poultry labs, that killed some of his birds.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Lady of McCamley

Your DLM sound GREAT! We're having one of those "rain every day" bouts now, didn't think the DLM would work but it does

We got clay soil with a layer of fine pine shavings (feed store) & it's working great, wish I could get some pine needles, that would really be the cats meow. Maybe I should collect some discarded Christmas Trees, hey great thought. Any particular kind of pine? We only get what's shipped in from the Mainland.

The pine is the pine in the feed store bagged, dried, pine shavings. That's all the pine needed.

I personally hate my pine needles from the area trees (which are abundant in our area). The fir needles aren't so bad (also abundant), but the pine needles are an absolute pain. They get into the car vents (and plug your windscreen drainage letting rain back up into the car leaving a puddle on the floor). Pine needles never seem to break down into compost. They just stay sharp and pointy. (I wish I had a nickle for every time I've treaded across a sharp needle on the carpet after it was deposited from outside).

My rich soil is base clay (thanks to the original Missoula flood I'm told that swept through the area thousands of years ago), then pine shavings and/or bark chips (mostly fir, some pine, some oak and maple), then maple leaves (have several on the property), and some small fir needles from trees on the property. Add chicken organic matter and regular turning by said chickens, Presto. In about 6 months to a year, rich, dark, loam that farmers and gardeners drool over.

LofMc

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Something to check on when using free chips; in the Midwest, we have black walnut trees, which are wonderful, but toxic to some plants and the shavings/ chips are very bad for horses. I have no idea about poultry, but at least try to avoid the black walnut if possible. Mary

Good point. Fortunately black walnut is not something generally found in our area. You'd have to go out to the walnut farms, and they don't give free clippings.

You can though go to the farms and sometimes get filbert shells which a number of people like for ground fill.

LofMc

 

[EggSighted4Life]

That would be about impossible when getting a whole load of free chips...unless they were doing a load full on local property you could scope out before hand.
Another concern about trimmings was the guy in MO who had a freshly ground batch come in with aspergillus, confirmed by local ag poultry labs, that killed some of his birds.

This is my concern as well and was getting ready to mention it.... Just in case!