4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[i_want_the_good_life]

My hen enclosure is totally MINGING!!!!! The grass is all gone, the ground is saturated and i no longer walk in... i slide through the mud! It is a big space for 4 chickens but they've still managed to wreck it.

 

Do i need to somehow dry the area out? It is too big to put a roof on. (It's about 25 x40 foot).

 

Have i just got the messiest and most destructive girls in the world?

 

I was expecting it to get a bit messy but not so early in Autumn.

 

Any help/advice warmly welcomed.

 

Cheers!

[sleepymummy]

I posted the question "Can hens get trench foot?" to ask advice on the same subject. I got lots of replies. Everyone was really helpful. I don't know how to direct you to the actual topic but I'm sure you'd be able to find it, it was only Thursday this week.

 

Good luck and I hope clear it before you fall. I have been close many times this week!!!

[Redwing]

A few raised '"Ooops, word censored!"bly' slabs might help you get to the feeder and drinker wthout doing the splits!

[chelsea]

I agree with Tasha,

 

Could you section off an area and maybe scatter a layer of woodshavings to absorb some of the wet? Obviously you don't have to do all the large area but maybe half of it would help? And then dot some slabs/tree stumps/deck boards to make a path through the mud.

 

I did think of straw but hubby said they use it in the chicken runs where he works and when it gets wet it stinks.

[chocolateeclaire]

I had to get the corrigated plastic panels and put a roof on my run and now I am even thinking that I will have to put panels on the sides as the rain still blows in!!!

Claire

[Dappy Chick]

I had the same problem last week but we have now put a thick layer of pea shingle down which is keeping the mud out and the chooks are much cleaner.

 

You could try putting some weed control membrane down first to stop any topping sinking into the mud and then putting either wood chip, rubber chippings or shingle on top

[Ain't Nobody Here]

I posted the question "Can hens get trench foot?" to ask advice on the same subject. I got lots of replies. Everyone was really helpful. I don't know how to direct you to the actual topic but I'm sure you'd be able to find it, it was only Thursday this week.

 

Here you go

[TheChookKeeper]

I have the same problem i_want_the_good_life.

 

I have a fenced off area for the chooks, and then 4 ducks wandering the rest of the garden... as of the first day of rain, have NO grass... ANYWHERE. It is really depressing - I even contemplated getting rid of the ducks because of it.

 

However - I decided getting rid would upset me even more... so instead, we're looking at installing this:

http://www.boddingtons-ltd.com/forestry/grassprotecta-grass-reinforcement-mesh.htm

 

Rather an extreme measure, I know - but I think it's the only thing that is going to allow me to keep ducks, chickens and grass!

 

I can empathise with you completely - looking out the window to see all that missing grass is horrible - and the thought of risking life, and quite literally limbs getting down to do anything to the chooks is a really horrible thought.

 

I have slabs as someone else suggested going down the chook-garden (it's on quite a slope, which doesn't help!) - it helps, but I tend to find the slabs slide down the garden too - although surfing on paving slabs is quite fun, in it's own "messy" way

[Tutti Frutti]

Same problem here IWTGL! So today, we've put some stepping stones in our "lawn" (haha) to help us get to our WIR and then, in the run itself, we've spent about 5 hours removing the top couple of inches of sludge (biggest job) and replacing with the crafty membrane/slabs/hardwood chips combo that I read about on here (each bag covered about a square metre to a depth of 3 or 4 inches). As our run is only 2.1m x 2.5m, we've put a perspex roof on too.

 

For a treat for the girls, we've left a gap in the middle, bordered with bricks and tree stumps to keep the chips out, for a play-pit (Why do they always get so many new toys? Does this addiction ever wear off??!!)

 

Ooh! B&Q had a special on this morning - we got the big bags of chips reduced from £5 to £3 and then an extra 15% off on top (a member of staff just gave us a printed voucher!). But the chips are a lovely shade of... BLUE!! never mind, the girls LOVE it! And their feet are no longer in plaster-casts of mud.

[dippy bird]

we have exactly the same problem! I am expecting to find hippos in the run very soon! Myself and my OH drove to Yorkshire today to buy some rubber chippings.We paid £25 for half a tonne which I thought was a bargain.Tomorrow we will be sorting out their run and making it all lovely for the girlies.

[BeckyBoo]

It's so depressing isn't it? My garden is trashed from 3 kids and a big dog, the run is just a disaster despite having a corrugated plastic roof and where they free range, in a bid to let them onto something other than their bog, is now also a bog. But, spring WILL come, the garden WILL recover, I just have to keep reminding myself of that.

 

BeckyBoo

[dippy bird]

I'm just relieved it's not just ours.I thought we were doing something wrong.But it's just the rubbish English weather. My garden is trashed as well, especially the strip where we walk up to the run.Thats just a mud bath as well.Even my son said what a wreck the garden looked. And he doesn't notice anything!