Unsecure chicken perches

[thequietman1977]

Guys another of question for you. My Chicken run is in two parts, both of which are fixed. One is covered the other isnt. There is nothing on the floor of the covered run, just the bare earth which I sprinkle with sanitizing powder every so often. However, since I have fenced off the 'outdoor run the hens have turned it to squelchy mud in no time and with all the rain etc recently it isnt great.

 

I cannot rotate the areas they are in, the runs as i say are fixed. So, what can I put down on the floor of the runs, both internal and external and keep the hens where they are? The external run is not only messy, but starting to smell a bit too, something which I havent noticed until now.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Is your uncovered run too big to consider covering, even partly? Horse bedding like Easibed, Hemcore et al are the best for keeping things fresh but you do have to keep them from getting too wet.

 

If not, I've never used woodchip but perhaps that would work in the outdoor bit?

[heth1986]

How big is the outdoor part? My girls have hard wood chip in their outdoor run, it works for me with only a few girls and quite a large space, but others on here haven't had the best experiences!

Soft wood chip would very quickly turn to mulch with our weather whereas harwood tends to let the rain run through rather than soak it up.

I find that if I poo pick regularly, rake / dig the woodchip over in the warm weather to keep it drying out, and sprinkle with Stalosan, it tends to stay clean, fresh and (provided it's not British monsoon season) reasonably dry.

I would say to make sure you get a good thick layer of chips in though, otherwise the chooks with just mix it into the mud when it gets wet again! i've got about 8" deep in mine (a bit OTT but it works!)

Hope that helps?

[counturchickens]

Wood chip here too, we change it a couple of times a year. Sometimes we hose it down, in between use bio dry or nettex sanitiser.

[Lavenders_Blue]

I have a fixed outside run for my hens too and I have had the exact same squelchy, stinky mud problem this summer too.

What hubby and I did last weekend (for the second time this year ) was to a get a bucket and spade and dig out the worst of the sloppy, smelly mud. We put ours onto our raised beds, but you could lose it elsewhere in the garden, put it on a compost bin or I guess even put it in your green bin? We find the mud dries out quite quickly in our raised beds as they are well drained so the smell disappears quite quickly.

Once we are down to better ground in the chicken run, we sprinkle a very generous amount of Stalosan all over, then cover with something like woodchip. I'm waiting on some woodchip from the tree surgeon at the moment, so we ended up covering our run with straw, which the hens are having a super time digging in. When the woodchip arrives we'll put a good thick layer down over the straw.

I have also put a few pallets down in the run, which gave the hens somewhere to take refuge out of the mud when it was at its worst.

[thequietman1977]

How big is the outdoor part? My girls have hard wood chip in their outdoor run, it works for me with only a few girls and quite a large space, but others on here haven't had the best experiences!

Soft wood chip would very quickly turn to mulch with our weather whereas harwood tends to let the rain run through rather than soak it up.

I find that if I poo pick regularly, rake / dig the woodchip over in the warm weather to keep it drying out, and sprinkle with Stalosan, it tends to stay clean, fresh and (provided it's not British monsoon season) reasonably dry.

I would say to make sure you get a good thick layer of chips in though, otherwise the chooks with just mix it into the mud when it gets wet again! i've got about 8" deep in mine (a bit OTT but it works!)

Hope that helps?

 

My inddor run is approxinately 150 square feet and the outdorr run is 200 square feet roughly. The inddor run is fine, its dry and so doesnt get too messy. I had to fence off the chickens from the rest of the garden, they did get to free range but the poop was too much for TOWMBO. However this 200 square feet has been destroyed in 3 weeks by 8 hens, and it is stinking. So something needs to be done before the neighbours start complaining.

 

Wood chip seems like a good option, but im told that bark isnt an option, is this correct? Not the cheapest option. Do you find the bark helps to mask the smell or do you not have a problem?

 

A guy at work who keeps chickens says he heard about some rubber chippings that someone recommended to him, any experience with this?

[thequietman1977]

I have a fixed outside run for my hens too and I have had the exact same squelchy, stinky mud problem this summer too.

What hubby and I did last weekend (for the second time this year ) was to a get a bucket and spade and dig out the worst of the sloppy, smelly mud. We put ours onto our raised beds, but you could lose it elsewhere in the garden, put it on a compost bin or I guess even put it in your green bin? We find the mud dries out quite quickly in our raised beds as they are well drained so the smell disappears quite quickly.

Once we are down to better ground in the chicken run, we sprinkle a very generous amount of Stalosan all over, then cover with something like woodchip. I'm waiting on some woodchip from the tree surgeon at the moment, so we ended up covering our run with straw, which the hens are having a super time digging in. When the woodchip arrives we'll put a good thick layer down over the straw.

I have also put a few pallets down in the run, which gave the hens somewhere to take refuge out of the mud when it was at its worst.

 

The mud is horrible but thank you for the advice, it is very helpful. Wood chippings does rather seem to be the way forward for these mucky ladies. Where are you sourcing the wood chippings from and how big are the chips?

 

I can get rid of the rubbish soil as soon as tehe 'introduction run' is out the way (im introducing new ladies to my 5 ex-batts and the little coop/run takes up alot of space in the outdoor run). In fact now i think about it, its since we got the new hens that ive noticed the smell. I did wonder if it was possibly because the new hens were placed on a small plot for 3/4 weeks. Anyway, ill have a think about my plan of action. Thanks for the help.

[Lavenders_Blue]

I get my wood chip from the tree surgeon. He delivers me a tipper truck load for free. The only downside is that I have to wait until he has some/can deliver (hence I've had to put the straw down as a short term measure for now) but it does work really well as a run flooring and the hens love digging and scratching in it. I'm hoping he can deliver me some more in the next week or so.

For the size of run you have (not sure about sq.ft/sq.m measurements but think your outside run might be a similar size to mine) it will cost you a small fortune to buy bagged woodchips, so I definitely recommend phoning round a few tree surgeons in your area.

Definitely don't use bark, it goes wet, slimy and horrid really quickly!

[thequietman1977]

I shall take your advice and ask around to see if there is anything anyone can do for me regarding wood chips. Are they small wood chips like, 5mm - 10mm in size sort of thing, or bigger than this? I shall attach some photos later and show you how my run, house looks. Bit messy at the moment with the new ladies making their mark.

 

Thanks for the help

[Lavenders_Blue]

Gosh, no idea really. I don't think they were particularly chunky but lasted quite well anyway.

I'm not particularly bothered about the size/quality of the woodchip seeing as I'm not paying for it, as I can dig it out and replace as necessary for no cost.

It's definitely worth phoning a few tree surgeons, as when I first had wood chips delivered I phoned a tree surgeon who quoted me £40 for a truck load. I was actually quite happy to pay that, but when he then said he couldn't deliver any to me I phoned a second tree surgeon who was only too happy to let me have some for free.