[Lorie]

With the recent spell of bad weather,the run has become a little mushy,and even though we fork it over to help drainage,it is starting to become a little bit whiffy. Is  there a solution to this problem...The hens by the way seem to be ok with it,and are going about their routine as normal. Can the situation be detrimental to tha girls in the long run...thanx..Lorie

[grumpydad]

can only suggest adding a layer of chippings to help raise the chucks and help the drainage, lots get the chippings from tree surgeons, we have these in ours, and have a covered run to help keep the water out.
adding a little stanoslan f disinfectant on a regular basis helps, as poo picking as much as you can.

[upert]

if you leave them too long in the same spot the ground gets fowl sick. i move mine as much as i can but then i have a bit of room.

[Aunt Sally]

Give it a liberal sprinkle of gardening lime and dig it over.  Rest the ground if you can or cover with play bark is feasible.

[New shoot]

I've never used lime before, but that's a great idea Auntie. I assume it neutralises all the acid from the poop and makes the soil a bit fresher.

I use bark and when I scrape it out periodically, I dig the soil over before replacing the bark. There's always earthworms in there, which I take as a good sign...............and the girls take as the mooooost exciting part of the whole process    Not easy digging over a run with 7 chickies sat on the end of the spade    

[Aunt Sally]

Dig it in well as its a bit caustic.

[New shoot]

Will do    Thanks

[beulah59]

Last time I raked over the woodchip to lay some Stalosan, I shut the girls out of the run as I couldn't avoid treading on them  :blink:

So sometime in spring I'll do the same in order to dig in some lime. Trouble is, the ground is fairly firm, so I don't really want to dig it over as I think it will just make mud. perhaps we'll have a dry summer?!