Mrs

[munkee1965]

I have only been keeping chickens for 2 weeks now. We have a small lawn (about the size of a garage base) at the side of the house that wasn't used for anything. Hubby has fenced it off and put me a gate in and this is where the girls are living in an Eglu Go. With all the rain we have had over the last week and 4 very enthusiastic girls it now resembles a used festival field. They don't seem abit bothered about paddling around in the mud but I was wondering if they are Ok in it? I wasn't expecting the grass to last very long with them but I'm surprised at how quickly they have destroyed it.

[keyhole kate]

I am only surprised it has lasted two weeks they will be as happy as the proverbial pigs the mud won't bother them in the slightest

[Lavenders_Blue]

My garden is the same. The chicken pen is, quite frankly, disgusting. There is water sitting in pools on top of the mud and the whole thing stinks.

I've actually just been out with the garden fork to try and (fairly unsuccessfully) turn some of the ground over and then given it a liberal dusting of disinfectant powder. It's still sludgy and it still stinks but hopefully the water might be able to drain away a bit more easily.

When all this rain finally clears and the ground dries out a bit, I'll get in there with a rotovator and turn the ground over properly and disinfect again. Until it dries out though, there's not an awful lot I can do.

No-one tells you this before you start keeping chickens!

[sparkysmum]

How about putting down lots of woodchip ? Although it can be costly to buy from garden centres, B&Q etc you might be able to get a cheap/free load from a tree surgeon. Whilst they might not appear to mind wading about in mud it must be better for them to be clean and dry and the wood chips will give them something to scratch around in. The other problem with muddy runs is that they can harbour coccidia, a parasite which can be harmful to hens.

[Lavenders_Blue]

I put a load of woodchip down at the beginning of the winter which has lasted very well until this last couple of weeks when it has all got stamped down into the mud I'll put some more down once the ground is all dried out and turned over but if I do it now it will just get trampled into the mud. My garden has very heavy clay soil which holds water really well - great if you're growing plants but not if you're keeping chickens.

[munkee1965]

Was thinking I'd have to do something for the winter but might have to have a re think if this rain continues.

Can I use the bark that you get from B&Q?

[sparkysmum]

Hi, bark isn't brilliant as it can go slimey & can go mouldy when it is wet then dries. Woodchips don't have to be top grade & tree surgeons are often pleased to offload some It really makes a big difference to your hens environment. Alli x

[One_Box]

Was thinking I'd have to do something for the winter but might have to have a re think if this rain continues.

Can I use the bark that you get from B&Q?

 

Keep well away from bark, wood chippings are the thing (about 100 mm seems to give the chooks something to excavate !)

 

Water drains through the chippings and provides a good environment for your hens.

 

There is an article in Practical Poultry (April 2012 P42) on Coccidiosis. I think it says it all!

 

Good luck.

[Wiggle39]

My ladies turned my WIR to mud/dust in a matter of days, I decided to try grass matting, the rubber holed kind that lets the grass grow through (fat chance)! Topped with straw that I change roughly every 8 weeks.

 

It seems to work well and gives me a mud free surface to walk on and the girls something to scratch around in, so everyone's happy.

 

I use virkon on the matting after removing the old straw and allow it to dry before adding the new straw. The added bonus with virkon is that it works on organic matter so the surface doesn't need to be spotless.

[Plum]

If you sprinkle and dig in garden lime it neutralises the soil, gets rid of worm eggs and smells. Well the books say so.

[Egluntyne]

It does. I use it quite often for this, especially after a period of wet weather.

[clucker1]

Well our chickens are the same as Lavenders Blue! There is surface water on top and very wet and soup like. We have wood chips in.....lots of them about 6-9 inches deep depending on if you are near an excavated section!! or not! The soil is partly clay.....when we built the wir, we put loads of layers of drainage in. At the weekend it STANK! I have been busy raking and and putting Nettex ground sanitiser down, plus given the girls live yogurt and an extra dollop of bokashi to help. It has improved the situation, but there is still a LOT of excess water around. Tomorrow it is supposed to POUR down, so I really don't think there is much else I can do apart from move the girls abroad Any other ideas?

[Lavenders_Blue]

Clucker1, I feel your pain! I have tried to dig the run over a bit, just to try and drain the water away from the surface. It has helped a bit, but the ground is still very squelchy. To be honest, I don't think there is anything that can be done until the ground has dried out a bit and I can dig it over properly and put a brand new layer of woodchips down on top.

I bought some garden lime at the weekend and generously sprinkled it all over the run and it does seem to have helped with the smells. It's certainly not as whiffy as it was before so that may be worth a go? It's cheap enough to buy so no harm done if it doesn't work. Interestingly, the garden lime packet said that lime helps break up clay soils (something to do with the pH) so I wonder if the chicken poo has the opposite effect? (Being acid rather than alkaline) Certainly over the 3 winters I have had the hens, this is the first time I've had such a bad problem with drainage and consequently, smells. Just a thought...

I've also been to the farm store and bought some powdered garlic for the hens' food in an attempt to remedy the problem 'at source'! I'll report back on that!

[Stella14]

@ OP, Thanks for posting this thread, its so useful. Can I ask - to those who use virkon on a soft surface run (eg earth, not concrete), is it okay to just sprinkle powder down on the wet surface (I thought it had to be mixed with water)? To those who recommend lime. I heard that it shouldn't be used near animals. Could be that wasn't accurate! Do you let your chickens straight back into that area?

[clucker1]

Thanks Lavenders Blue!

 

I think the Nettex sanitising powder definitly helped. However! Have just been out to rake over the sludge and add some more sanitiser, normally only use it once a week, but desperate measures are in force at the moment....

the girls jumped at the chance to free range, so they are out giving their sodden toes some drying out time on the grass and under the dry trees . Got the sanitiser out of the dustbin it is in, anyway it has all clogged together with the damp, so now drying it out!

Interestingly even the lower ranking chickens have been "allowed" on the perches today.

[Lavenders_Blue]

Garden lime is just limestone (I checked the packet!) so perfectly safe to use with the hens.

I believe that builders' lime is different, so make sure you get the right stuff!

[Wiggle39]

Regarding the virkon I do dilute it and even on a wet surface it seems to do the trick. (although my run is fairly free draining usually- except today that is, does anyone know where I can get a cheap pair of waders)?

 

As for garden lime, I've also heard that it needs to be thoroughly dug in and them left for two weeks before allowing hens back to the area. But I can't remember where I read it, so not much help really.

[Lavenders_Blue]

Well what a fun afternoon hubby and I have had There looks to be no let up in this rain for the near future, so we needed to get something done about the state of the run. Apart from the fact that we are fed up of squelching about in mud, it must be horribly unhygienic for the hens and not good for their feet. So we set about with a couple of buckets and a shovel and we have removed somewhere in the region of 20 buckets of mud/sludge/sewage from the run - basically the top sludgy layer.

The ground is still saturated and wet, but at least the chickens are now no longer paddling about in a sort of muddy poo soup We have put down another layer of garden lime and ordered some Stalosan as I had run out of powder disinfectant. I am going to phone the tree surgeon on Monday and see if he can deliver me a tipper truck load of woodchips. Hopefully now that we've cleared the sludge out, the woodchips won't just disappear into the mud.

I did tentatively suggest a WIR to hubby. He rolled his eyes and told me we spend enough on the hens as it is. I guess that will be a no then...

[clucker1]

Welll Done LB! I know where you are at!!

We have decided to roof our wir later this year. We did not anticipate the amount of water that would build despite the drainage we put in, we think it has just built up and with the huge volume of rain, just can't cope. We have put in lots of things for the girls to stand on and they do like their perch (we call it the Arthur Scargill perch) as they all look terribly forthright and militant when they are all on it together!! Anyway, a job for the Summer. Well done again.

[Dudley1]

I have only been keeping chickens for 2 weeks now. We have a small lawn (about the size of a garage base) at the side of the house that wasn't used for anything. Hubby has fenced it off and put me a gate in and this is where the girls are living in an Eglu Go. With all the rain we have had over the last week and 4 very enthusiastic girls it now resembles a used festival field. They don't seem abit bothered about paddling around in the mud but I was wondering if they are Ok in it? I wasn't expecting the grass to last very long with them but I'm surprised at how quickly they have destroyed it.

 

Me too! Two weeks into chickens too and absolute mud bath even though been moving the run every three days!

[sparkysmum]

Just a thought for anyone who is still struggling with a muddy run. Would you consider putting pallets down on a temporary basis until you can have a more permanent solution. They would at least have somewhere to stand about on for a while. Good luck with your runs. Alli x

[Lavenders_Blue]

Thanks for the suggestion sparkysmum, I tracked down some pallets this week and put them in the run yesterday afternoon.

 

The girls seem to really like them, it's like a selection of chicken climbing frames I think I will probably leave a couple in once all the rain has stopped, as the hens seem to think they are fun.

 

I have bought a mahoooosive tub of Stalosan, so I need to let the ground dry out a bit, then I can sprinkle liberally. That will hopefully get rid of the remaining whiffs

 

I'm hoping the tree surgeon is going to phone me soon to let me know he has some wood chips for me, it would be nice to have a decent surface down in the run as the novelty of rain and mud has long since disappeared.