debratugwell Posted July 26, 2007 Share Posted July 26, 2007 Looking for some tips please. Our girls currently live on a small piece of earth (rather muddy at the moment) and have spend most of their time with a clear tarpaulin over the run to keep things dry which works very well. They come out to free range whenever possible. However they will be moving to a purpose built area (30' x 6') at the side of our house which will again be on earth, as opposed to grass. Trying to come up with a solution for some kind of roofing system for the whole area to keep the rain off so that I don't have to be cleaning the whole area out every week when it all gets sodden. They don't seem to mind wallowing in mud and water, but it can't be good for their feet in the long run. Am also trying to think of something which won't detract from the house as we live in a nice old stone farmhouse and a rickety iron roof would look out of place!!! Any thoughts anyone or am I just kidding myself that this is preventable and should just do a mass clean up each week????? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cutechicky Posted July 26, 2007 Share Posted July 26, 2007 Are the chickens on woodchips in their runs? If so, maybe you should place them on a higher point of the garden? This way there is less water in the soil. Sorry I can't help you with the roofing bit. My chickens seem to love a bit of water! As long as they don't get drenched, they are fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christian Posted July 26, 2007 Share Posted July 26, 2007 What about corrugated plastic roofing? You can buy metres of the stuff from B and Q. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 26, 2007 Share Posted July 26, 2007 I have used corrugated plastic. My run was built over a year ago and the plastic keeps the run dry. The high winds have ripped it off and the snow wasn't too heavy!. The hardest thing about it was building a support for it as it is quite heavy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ali-s Posted July 26, 2007 Share Posted July 26, 2007 What about corrugated plastic roofing? You can buy metres of the stuff from B and Q. We bought ours from Wickes, it was half the price than buying from B&Q Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tara.F Posted July 26, 2007 Share Posted July 26, 2007 Aubiose, Aubiose, Aubiose marvlous stuff! stops the run from resembling the somme we have the B&Q wriggely plastic over our run....works a treat. for a larger area, maybe it would be an idea to cover half and leave the rest just (foxproof) chicken wire so that the chhoks can choose for themselves. mine love the rain Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
