When to remove/change straw

[DonyaQuick]

If you can get some DRY chunky wood chips they'd be a good addition to your run, both helping keep the chickens' feet dry and keeping the straw from matting.

I've always had a hard time finding wood chips but I can usually get pine bark mulch which has functionally seemed similar in my usage of it so far. Next time I'm able to make it out of my driveway, I will see if the stores have any bags that don't have a snow hat.

Snow underneath the straw will probably melt much later than uncovered snow. The straw acts as an insulator, to protect it from sunlight and warm air.

(Of course your thick layer of ice will also take a long time to melt, so I can't say which will actually melt first. But the timing may be closer together than you currently expect.)

Hadn't thought of that! That would be a pretty nice actually if it turns out that way. I also have a tarp over my run extension at the moment so it might not get as much sun to help it melt as it would otherwise. I was thinking of taking the tarp off for the melt but maybe I'll keep it there for a bit.

 

[DonyaQuick]

Well, I am destroyed after around 4 hours of hammering trenches into ice today with a spade. The thaw started up in an unexpectedly big way today given it was actually warmer yesterday and nothing seemed to be happening then. Ended up with about the worst case scenario since water rapidly filled up the bottom of the run extension while everything else outside was still happily ice and snow. I got two ditches chipped into the ice buildup on the sides that were retaining the water in the run, so now the bottom layer of straw is just damp rather than totally submerged. The sudden melt also threatened to flood the secure run but I managed to just head it off with digging.

Unfortunately, I do not yet have any sort of wood chips or pine bark mulch. My driveway still has 2 inches of ice on it (down from 3 at its peak). I have a partial bag of large pine shavings and 1.5 bags of smaller pine shavings. I'm nervous about dumping a bunch in there because that's what I use for litter in the coop and I'm kind of in resource conservation mode at the moment, so I don't really want to start mixing those in just yet.

It'll freeze again tonight briefly, then another 24h of thaw and rain. What a mess.

 

[DonyaQuick]

There is no slush in this picture. All that clear stuff is ice and the stuff that looks like dirt is ice with dirt mixed into it. I got one successful drainage ditch out of the green run extension, one moderately successful ditch draining away from the door (the base is just barely above the ice level by a couple millimeters) and one failed attempt between them where the shovel just bounced back up and nearly hit me in the face with the handle.

At least I was able to get out of the driveway today. The more miraculous part was being able to get back up it on the way back since it's currently coated in the same stuff as in the picture above. Anyway, I now have two bags of pine bark chips; that was all I could pry off the frozen pile without ripping the bags. The chips are larger than I would have liked, more like 1-2", but the smaller ones I've used before were completely frozen in place. Tomorrow I'm inclined to rake the straw to one side, put the chips down where it's wet, and then rake the straw back over the top. I realize it would mix slowly over time but it feels like in the short term the straw needs to be lifted up a bit while things drain.

 

[NatJ]

...and one failed attempt between them where the shovel just bounced back up and nearly hit me in the face with the handle.

Ice will sometimes shatter if you hit it with a hammer.
(Yes, of course you could use a pick, but I find a hammer easier to control.)

 

[aart]

There is no slush in this picture. All that clear stuff is ice and the stuff that looks like dirt is ice with dirt mixed into it. I got one successful drainage ditch out of the green run extension, one moderately successful ditch draining away from the door (the base is just barely above the ice level by a couple millimeters) and one failed attempt between them where the shovel just bounced back up and nearly hit me in the face with the handle.
View attachment 2991113

At least I was able to get out of the driveway today. The more miraculous part was being able to get back up it on the way back since it's currently coated in the same stuff as in the picture above. Anyway, I now have two bags of pine bark chips; that was all I could pry off the frozen pile without ripping the bags. The chips are larger than I would have liked, more like 1-2", but the smaller ones I've used before were completely frozen in place. Tomorrow I'm inclined to rake the straw to one side, put the chips down where it's wet, and then rake the straw back over the top. I realize it would mix slowly over time but it feels like in the short term the straw needs to be lifted up a bit while things drain.

This is why I shovel out parts of the chicken run.
Even then the thaws will make a mucky mess.

 

[DonyaQuick]

Raked straw to the side where there was still some pooling water and dragged out a bag of pine bark chips this morning. Somehow it was still frozen into a couple of big sections, but thankfully I had a bunch of volunteers for dealing with that particular issue.

Ice will sometimes shatter if you hit it with a hammer.
(Yes, of course you could use a pick, but I find a hammer easier to control.)

My husband tried to have a go at it with a good sized sledge hammer. It made some small radiating cracks, but they didn't spread very far and unfortunately nothing would let go of the ground underneath.

This is why I shovel out parts of the chicken run.
Even then the thaws will make a mucky mess.

Between the weather and the stuff with avian influenza coming up the east coast, I'm wondering about just putting in an actual roof over my run extension later in the year (keeping the tarp there in the mean time). I also need to improve drainage in the area in a much broader sense so hopefully iterative work on that this summer will lead to a better winter next time.

 

[NatJ]

My husband tried to have a go at it with a good sized sledge hammer. It made some small radiating cracks, but they didn't spread very far and unfortunately nothing would let go of the ground underneath.

That is frustrating!

When I said "hammer," I was thinking the tool a carpenter uses for hitting nails. I can sit on the ground and break stubborn bits of ice out of the way, and hitting just a small section will sometimes break off just that section. (It is not a good way to clear a large area, but sometimes works on stubborn small areas.)

 

[3KillerBs]

Somehow it was still frozen into a couple of big sections, but thankfully I had a bunch of volunteers for dealing with that particular issue.

There is nothing my ladies like better than spreading a pile of bedding for me.

 

[DonyaQuick]

I am running into a problem with the straw unfortunately. A repeating pattern of mini thaws followed by rapid re-freezes and extra snow blowing in at night has been causing ice to steadily consume both my straw and wood chips from the bottom up. I've tried to manually fluff it with a rake in the mornings to break that up but it just seems to melt, drain downwards, and then freeze on roughly the same amount again after the chickens have trampled it down. Right now I'm down to about a 1" layer of un-frozen straw and chips on top of a compacted ice mess. Another big thaw is right around the corner, so my ice-straw-chip cake will be returned to its original un-frozen state, but I'd like to try to figure out how to prevent the same thing from happening again if it goes back to being cold afterwards. More wood chips?

 

[aart]

I am running into a problem with the straw unfortunately. A repeating pattern of mini thaws followed by rapid re-freezes and extra snow blowing in at night has been causing ice to steadily consume both my straw and wood chips from the bottom up. I've tried to manually fluff it with a rake in the mornings to break that up but it just seems to melt, drain downwards, and then freeze on roughly the same amount again after the chickens have trampled it down. Right now I'm down to about a 1" layer of un-frozen straw and chips on top of a compacted ice mess. Another big thaw is right around the corner, so my ice-straw-chip cake will be returned to its original un-frozen state, but I'd like to try to figure out how to prevent the same thing from happening again if it goes back to being cold afterwards. More wood chips?

Coarse wood chippings are the base for run bedding,
with a bit of straw, dried grass and leaves.
Then it all freezes solid, I shovel out parts of the run.
Once the thaws start it can get pretty mucky so I spread thin layers of large flake pine shavings to help sop up the muck(thawed poop).
I never remove any of the bedding.