Stoat killed hens asleep in the Eglu

[ChickenPoopGarden]

Ok, so I see another mud post here, but our garden has just turned into a SWAMP. I suspect now that the back-back garden, which used to be the old railway line, had a stream running along the boundary with the back garden but when they purchased the old railway land, they just dumped soil on top of it and turfed it over. The back garden is muddy, and the grass has disappeared where I trek up and down to attend to the girls, but it is more normal, considering the extreme rainfall. The back-back garden has pools of standing water all over the lawn.

So the lovely big WIR we build has gone from having a wondrous mulch of long pine needles that kept the chickens feet dry, to being a complete mudbath.

I desperately need to address this, but no idea how! The area is sloped, so I was hoping the water would run off, but it totally doesn't

I have heard of hardwood chips, but I am concerned that they also would simply slide down the slope, leaving the front part of the coop as muddy as every. I think we need a SERIOUS drainage and mulch solution, but we will eventually be moving the WIR closer to the house (Once we have finished the extension) so It cant be permanent. i have heard that straw is great AND that straw is awful and mouldy, that pea shingle is a terrible idea, and that hardwood chips are free from local tree surgeons but so far I only see bags being sold for extortionate prices!

Help me, chicken people!!!

[Flowerpot]

Hi Chickenpoopgarden

 

I had the same problem - oh what a surprise - but my girls are in a WIR that has a roof to prevent rain fall on them but hat has been a laugh with the high winds as well as rain.

What I did was to lay more of the hard wood chipping and that did help a bit. What I do is rake them up everyday so that they don't get stuck into the mud. They don't disintegrate in the wet which is great so although they are still wet the hardwood chippings to give the girls a 'surface' to walk on which is not in puddles. My girls even 'dust bath' in the loose soil and chippings. How/why they do that I have no idea but they seem to enjoy trying anyway.

I get my hardwood chippings from flyte so fancy in bulk to make them cheaper from a carrier point of view. They are not cheap at all but I keep saving up and use them sparingly so that they last until I can afford some more. I have to say they have been brilliant in this wet because they don't go soggy.

Hope this helps

Flowerpot

[Hippie Chick]

I can truly sympathise - I spent a few hours yesterday digging drainage channels in the WIR. The poor chickens are wading through mud and I desperately need some more hardwood chippings too. The plan was to cut down our overgrown trees in the garden before the bad weather hit and make our own chippings - we even bought a garden shredder that works nicely and then my other half got the important call we've been waiting for 3 years to receive and he had (successful) transplant surgery He's sort of out of action for the moment.

 

Anyway, I saw your comments about tree surgeons - it's true they do sometimes have some available, try looking up local ones on Google and phone or email them to see what they have. I was offered a load of around 800 litres for £20 delivered today - but he was good enough to mention there were cedar chips mixed in so I had to say no.

 

It didn't occur to me that there would be cedar chips in the mix and they are toxic to chickens apparently. So I thought I'd mention it as something to watch out for.

 

Fingers crossed we both find something soon!

[Mar1a]

My girls live in a WIR, but on an allotment site. They have been flooded out twice in recent weeks.

 

The roof is already triple tarpualined. The sides which receive the most incoming weather already had polycarbonate sheets between the layers of wire to protect them from the worst of the weather.

 

We ended up putting temporary guttering on both sides to collect the water from the roof. Admittedly when it rains we have to empty the collecting buckets several times a day but I'm just glad that they aren't getting wet inside the run. Inside, I collected as much surface water as I could, dug the garden fork in a few hundred (it seems like it!) for improved drainage and put several buckets full of sawdust to soak up the worst of the muddy bits, moving on to straw as soon as the straw shop was open the next day. I just clean out and replace the straw every couple of days. The girls are helping out by digging around in the straw and it keeps them ultra happy

 

Hardwood clippings aren't really an option for me because of access and distance from the road issues, so for me, straw is the next best thing.

[ChickenPoopGarden]

That's very interesting about the cedar being toxic to chickens. thanks heavens you said, because there are a lot of conifers in our garden INCLUDING a giant conifer and i was considering borrowing a chipper to make my own wood chips. I'll definitely not do that now!

[Ursula123]

Our garden was very wet, we dug a soak away 2m x2m and 6ft deep and filled with hardcore. This has helped a lot although the garden is still wet with all this rain it has not turned into a mud bath. Maybe when the weather gets better you could look at this option CPG, in the meantime I would be inclined to put some straw down and change every few days, it will at least help to keep the girls feet dry. My FIL a farmer gave me a couple of bales to keep in as a precaution just I case we got too wet.

[eve]

Its such a terrible wet winter think snow is alot better to deal with than this rain that keeps comming. Im ready to give up chickens completel , its so hard trying but water logged in wir no matter what i do. Keep buying new sheets for the roof wind jusr ripes them had 10 bags of bark that worked for a week but cant afford to buy it every week. Im unhappy and think my girls are to.even though they started to lay again.hopping for a very dry summer xx

[Luvachicken]

Don't get downhearted Eve.

I would imagine if your chickens were unhappy they wouldn't be laying eggs.

 

Has the bark got bad because the wind has blown off your waterproof sheets ?

Could you reuse the waterproof sheets with some bungees to help keep them in place a bit more to make a drier patch over the roof ?

 

Things will get better Eve, as long as you check each day to make sure your girls are ok and have enough food and water to keep them going.

 

A cold spell is meant to be coming so hopefully that will give us all a break from the awful rain.

[Purplemaniacs]

My B team (the ex batts) are in very muddy conditions too.

 

I have a WIR that is divided into two, one end has the cube and the two hybrids they are fine reasonably dry underfoot.The other end with the B team and the eglu is awfully wet. OH and I can't work out why one end is ok and the other is getting so wet. The conclusion we have come to now is that the roof must be leaking, there are no holes but we wonder if water is just seeping through it.

 

The girls however don't seem to mind their wet conditions, they have laid 2 to 3 eggs all winter, there are three of the them.

 

Chrissie

[Alis girls]

Reading this I am so glad I settled on slabs and auboise. They have a slab free area to dust bathe in but its so easy to keep clean compared with the Somme they had in previous winters. They have a pond which I wade thro to get to them. I will be purchasing 3 baby size rubber rings if it gets any deeper. OH built the WIR up higher so need a lot more rain before they will be needed. I do feel for you all. Having said that they seemed happy enough in previous yrs.

[ChickenPoopGarden]

Yup, I'm currently thinking of s"Ooops, word censored!"ing out all the bleaurgh, laying down a whole load of pea shingle (from another part of the garden) and perhaps some sand (found behind the shed) to level it all off, Then laying slabs all over the run (again, from other parts of the garden). The only thing I'll need to buy is the hardwood chip.

Hopefully That'll create drainage below, slabs for dryness, and chips to dig in and keep the feet dry.

Now I just need an entire day when my husband is off work and the weather isn't hideous....

[Cat tails]

Think about putting some skirting around the run, to prevent them kicking out all the wood chips.

 

I have dug out the spot the run sits on this summer and put in some slabs about 10 cm deep. They don't meet each other anywhere around, so it leaves some space to drain water through. It also left some space for earth worms to come through, which do a great job, mulling the earth through once in a while.

[gavclojak]

My girls are in An enclosure, they have the cube with a dry area under the cube and a roofed area that is dry but as its at the top of a sloped garden, trying to get to the enclosure is a joke at the moment. I'm sliding all over the place in my stupid croc's and am using a broom like a staff, much like Gandalf the grey

 

I'm so over this rain but while we are all cursing our inconvenience, spare a thought for all those people who have lost so much after their homes/businesses have flooded. My woes pale into insignificance

[Purplemaniacs]

Reading this I am so glad I settled on slabs and auboise.

 

My B team are on slabs and auboise

 

Chrissie

[Luvachicken]

Doesn't the aubiose cause problems if it is soaking wet ?

 

How often would you change it ?

 

I'm still thinking about the straw pellets but they are quite expensive and I already have lots of aubiose.

[clucker1]

Yes, Luvachicken...I would have thought the same. Just started reroofing our run with polycarbonate stuff, due to a leak which has made our run turn into a pile of squelch. The wood chips need replacing anyway and will go on my veg and roses, they are quite wet and sodden now, so fine for the borders and beds. Unless the wir is very enclosed yes, I would have thought the aubiose would get wet and then I'm sure it would need replacing weekly or so like in a stable.

[Eggshell]

A water-permeable membrane under woodchips works well, because the woodchips don't get mixed up with the mud. I've gone for the Newland Poulty mud management idea, with turf protector between the membrane and the woodchips, but I don't think it's essential so long as the chickens' feet don't shred the membrane.

[mollyripkim]

I love the membrane as well, as any water drains through, I do have a roof with guttering but like Eggshell said even where the rain comes in on the sides it's just wet wood chip which will dry out and not muddy or dirty.

[bigmommasally]

Hi All

I haven't been on for ages but reading this bought back the horrors of last winter

We had moved house in summer of 2014 and sited the chicken run in the centre of the garden whilst we cleared the bramble and rubbish tip at the end of the garden where the chicken permanent home was planned. What we didn't realise in the lovely summer was the centre on the garden dipped slightly and was the natural run off area for the garden and our neighbours gardens! As winter approached the girls sunk deeper into a bog, and looked pretty miserable. In desperation we tried the Newland mud management method and it worked pretty well, although in heavy rainfall the run was still under water, it drained quicker when the rain and run off eased off.

Over last summer we moved the girls to their permanent site, a drier spot though our garden is very poorly drained all over ( we plan to tackle drainage over the longer term)

Hubby dug out and put a thick gravel and sand layer down with paving slabs sitting on top not concreted in to allow rain to drain through. The run is roofed and has guttering into a currently overflowing water butt.

We have a thick layer of hard wood chips down ( chicken specific ones from Bark Uk )

Girls have been on this set up from around October and so far it seems to be going pretty well. Currently the garden around them is a total bog, I am wading through deep puddles on the trek down to them, but their run is mainly pretty dry. A bit wet around the edges but this is mainly from rain blowing in as we haven't put up the Perspex side covers (find they get misty or grubby and stop me seeing the girls in the run). Just Praying that it remains as good as this for the rest of the winter.

What we not sure is how long we can expect the hard wood chips to last & where all their poo is going - there isn't much evidence of it amongst the chipping or underneath them. We've been putting regular sprinklings of bio dri down to keep germs at bay.

Wishing all of you struggling through this awful wet weather a drier times to come

[eve]

Got a new roof cover it has bungiees like the other two just the wind has ripped them to shreds.still wet and muddy under foot for my girls.they seem happy enough xx still laying. Just smells very unpleasent as so muddy.

[redsunset]

Last winter was a nightmare for me as so much mud and a lot of chooks. Now while mine are not in a run and free range, the mud situation was just awful as had to wear wellies just to go to the coops! Had to get my thinking cap on and ended up putting 4 tons of gravel down around the coops and when I had the driveway rechipped, I had the membrane stripped off and dug a little deeper down. Membrane is fine if only a few chooks (like 6- but any more and their poop stops the water draining. The gravel has helped tremendously as can now usually go down to the coops in shoes as the rain was relentless last summer in the Hebrides compared to year before.

I can now blast the gravel with the hose and it keeps it nice and clean for the most part.

 

Hope this helps.

[Dora+3others]

This is my first winter keeping chickens. Their walk in run floor which as a membrane

Then a good few inches of flyte so fancy wood chips is wet and where they have ripped up the the membrane from the edges total mud. My husband keeps reminding me we do live in Wales after all but our garden is absolutely sodden so the chips never have a chance of drying out as the ground is so wet. The girls seem happy and are laying they can be reluctant to venture out some mornings though. It is totally miserable. Cannot wait for spring so we can lay paving under run so as to raise it up a few inches I have been considering other options as a floor covering and reading about rubber pellets. Have to see. More torrential rain forecast this week.