Muddy Run Remedies

The spring melt is on and my chicken run is a giant sloshy mud pit. My poor hens!

Observing the run area, the farthest end is holding a small amount of water as the ground is semi-frozen/semi-thawed. The woodchip that has lasted much of the winter is at its water handling capacity and gives a bit of a squishy slosh underfoot. The lovely odor of avian livestock can be smelt if you are in the run so I need to do something.

I'm running low on on-hand carbon materials outside of some straw but that doesn't do much when it comes to water handling. I've thinking of getting my hands on some sawdust for the especially wet areas and then obtaining a bale or two of pine shavings to spread through the run. While the coop functions a a dry safe area, I'd feel better giving them a dry spot in their run.

I'm going to have to look at getting  roof established because that will help mitigate future water away from the run.

How do you deal with muddy runs?

Timothy Norton wrote: How do you deal with muddy runs?

You think chickens are bad. You should see the mess Khaki Campbell Ducks can make!

For me, step 1 is to see what the slope of the land is, and figure out how I can ensure that the water has a place to drain to. I was away over Christmas to visit family one year when we had a particularly wet Dec. Hubby complained and my first comment was, "When I left, the water buckets were near the middle of the east wall. I would move them down slope to the south wall."

Stunned silence then a sheepish, "Why didn't I think of that?"

Step 2 is to decide when the only approach is to shovel the really wet stuff out to a compost area, and put fresh bedding in. This is what I had to do when I got back after that Christmas. I could only do so much, so I had to keep at it over at least 2 weeks.

The trouble with that approach is that, from my experience, I get much more mileage out of my mulch if I add it a 1/4 inch at a time, rather than a whole lot all at once. Similarly, if you get to it early enough, shoveling the wettest stuff out daily or every two days, is more effective than doing a lot all at once.

A different run I had which is also on a slope, the chickens kept kicking the bedding down to the low side, leaving the area under their perches with nothing to absorb the poop. My solution was a short piece of fencing just down hill of the perches that crossed most of the shelter, trapping mulch in the perch area. Again, adding a thin layer of mulch each morning over the night collection of poop, seemed to be more effective for me.

At first, only one end (the perch end) was covered. Now, almost half of that 20 ft long shelter is covered, and the roof over the perches now has a Charlie Brown rain catcher so the rain doesn't just run off the roof and into the perch area. That shelter was *not* supposed to have chickens in there in the winter, but you'll have to talk to Hubby about that!

I am going to say what I am sure you know, organic material ...

Straw , leaves, wood chips!

Chicken bedding, also ...

You know, I might have to get clever this year and look into creating some kind of shallow french drain in one particular corner of my chicken run due to it retaining water.

The "roof" of the run this year is just flat boards that lined the top of the rectangular structure but that accumulated snow. With the melt, it just all drips into the run and makes it a soggy mess. Putting an angled roof will help deal with that particular source of water, rain still can get in from the sides.

The joy of livestock!

A second run or a larger subdivided run so that you can "paddock" shift them and keep more vegetation to drink up the water?

Pyrolysis of invasive plants and small woody biomass in some sort of kiln or even it a pit, produces biochar. Mix that will animal bedding etc to charge it and maybe toss in some peat moss.

Timothy Norton wrote:The spring melt is on and my chicken run is a giant sloshy mud pit. My poor hens!

Observing the run area, the farthest end is holding a small amount of water as the ground is semi-frozen/semi-thawed. The woodchip that has lasted much of the winter is at its water handling capacity and gives a bit of a squishy slosh underfoot. The lovely odor of avian livestock can be smelt if you are in the run so I need to do something.

I'm running low on on-hand carbon materials outside of some straw but that doesn't do much when it comes to water handling. I've thinking of getting my hands on some sawdust for the especially wet areas and then obtaining a bale or two of pine shavings to spread through the run. While the coop functions a a dry safe area, I'd feel better giving them a dry spot in their run.

I'm going to have to look at getting  roof established because that will help mitigate future water away from the run.

How do you deal with muddy runs?

1/If you have yet lower land nearby, you could trace a narrow channel (With a hoe) so it runs even lower. It doesn't need to be very deep, just so it removes a good part of the moisture.
2/ In an area that is constantly wet as soon as it run, I'd consider making a deep hole (Like a 55 gallon drum) and install a submersible pump. (Yeah, I know. If the ground is frozen, that's quite a chore... and it assumes that you could run a pump and the electric that far from the plug in).
3/ Yet another option is to plant thirsty trees. Those suckers drink! and for the oaks, you will (eventually) get mast!) but they will take a while to get established...
The river birch tree needs a lot of water, like 100 gal/day for an established tree.
Willow Oak Tree needs 50-100 gallons/day in the summer
Swamp White Oak Tree over 100 gal/day
Weeping Willow Tree. 10 gal per diameter inch/week
4/ Depending how long you expect the crisis to last, you may want to keep them locked for a day or two?
5/I don't suppose you have the option of running your chickens on higher ground...
6/ If that's not an option, you may have to go to Tractor supply and get some bales/ sacs of chips. I can cover the inside of my coop and also most of their winter run with 5 of those .At $5-6 a pop, it adds to the cost of eggs, but the health of your hens may be more important. That, and the fact that if their feet are full of mud, they'll track it in and their eggs may all have to be washed.
Day after tomorrow, we are expecting 2ft of snow in Central WI. ,so I'm looking at something similar.
Good luck with your project.  The roof is a great idea too: you can use a water barrel to keep them watered when summer arrives...

hello and welcome Ellen

My 2 cents worth, part of a solution not for the immediate future:
Major skid pads around entrance areas from puddles, no, ponds, no lakes of stagnant water. Guttering helped enormously and digging
drainage holes, quite deep, which I then filled with sand and pebbles, a sort of cheap and cheerful variation on the french drain that`s been mentioned.
I got the idea from a forum in these parts, suggesting how to fix wooden poles in the ground and prevent rot.
It`s worked out as a fairly efficient drainage system. A lot less mud with a side of woodchip.

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