2009 Omlet cube and run for sale

[drkate]

Ive 3 chickens in an eglu and extended run.They used to free range in the entire garden but they wrecked every flower bed i had so now we use fencing to keep them in one area. They are out of their run in this area during daylight hours every day. The area is about 10m by 4m so not small at all.

They are prolific scratchers and have completely obliterated any grass that was in that area, and now its been wet for so long the ground looks like Glastonbury on Sunday afternoon - 3 inches deep in gloopy mud. They have a cover on their enclosed run but choose to be out in the wet, muddy bit anyway. Ive put down straw but they dig it into the mud in minutes.

Im concerned that all this damp mud will make them ill or unhappy. Does anyone have any advice about whether the mud is likely to harm them, and what i can do to prevent it getting in such a bad state again?

Also, does it matter that they now have no grass?

With many thanks.

[Treekeeper]

Easibed or similar dries it up

[Sageandonion]

Our chicken area is a complete mud bath too. The house and run attached sits on a defunct vegetable patch. Inside the run we have wood chip (on mud) but they have access to the rest of the patch which is pure mud. We've only had our chickens since January and we've had a lot of rain off and on. They don't seem bothered by their "bog" for want of a better word and I don't want to tempt fate, but they haven't had any sniffles or sneezes. I did bail the area out a bit today though, as there were quite a few puddles. Yes - the hens did look at me like I was deranged and no doubt the neighbours did too!

 

Will watch this thread with interest, to see what others think.

 

We have wondered about wellies for chickens, a nice CK pair maybe

[abwsco]

I'd use something like Stalosan F or Bio Dri on the ground to disinfect it plus GARDEN lime to help neutralise any niffs. We also found a tree surgeon and bought a load of chipped wood from him. The chickens love scratching and digging in the chipped wood. We ended up putting about a layer of around 15" of it down though as I'd asked for a small load and when he delivered it, it filled our drive -lol We also put it all over the rest of our garden (where the grass used to be )as there was so much.

[Sageandonion]

Sorry I should have said I use Stalosan F and poo pick a couple of times a day.

[Redwing]

Its been so wet that so many people are in the same boat (sailing on mud )

 

If you can get hold of a pallet they may appreciate an island in their mud

 

Its not ideal but they are unlikely to be too adversely affected

 

I for one hope it dries up soon, the mud is driving me mad too!

[Jools]

Fingers crossed, it looks like we all have a dry-ish week ahead of us so the ground should start drying up. I've just put down a load more woodchip on my woodchip area because the woodchip that was there was disappearing into the mud really rather quickly. A good deep layer does the job really well (until it starts disappearing again, but hopefully that won't be til next winter)!

[txswanie]

I put flagstones in my run, it was so muddy and disgusting that I couldn't think of anything else. Actually its pretty easy to s"Ooops, word censored!"e up the mud/poo with a wallpaper s"Ooops, word censored!"er and then scrub out. I also have fake grass outside the run when the mud is really bad. I was a bit worried that they would try to eat it but they don't seem to notice it.

mud is the worst, good luck.

Colette.

[Henergy]

Reading this with interest as my coop suddenly became a mud bath overnight !!!!