[carrie676]

Hi all
I have 5 hens in a large 12ft run,they have a small amount of concrete base but the rest is earth,with all the rain recently its turned into a mudbath & im worried they will suffer & the smell is getting pretty bad too!!
Ive put plenty of perches in so they can get onto high ground & have also put a pallet on the ground aswell as covering the food area with plastic on the top to stop some of the rain getting in..anyone got any ideas of anything i could add to the soil to take the damp out,ive looked into bark chipping but have found a bad reports so im stumped
Thanks
ps they seem really healthy & are still laying so im hoping im doing the right thing?

[ANHBUC]

Stalosan F is good to disinfect the soil, it is absorbant as well but not enough to dry out the soil.  I had the same problem last week and sprinkled it all over the soil which improved it. 

Can't beat a bit of sunshine to make things better though. 

[Fiona55]

Hi am having the same problem, but Eric & his girls seem to be ok & are laying well.  How about small bits of chopped up tree - I think it is called mulch!  Lets hope for some dry weather!!!!!

[Craig69]

Same problem here. Left them off the soil/mud this morning & kept them on the slabs.
I'm going to extend the roof over the soil end which might help.
But yes - Bring on the Sun

[gailtearle]

hi i have the same problem but have put play bark in and my chooks have been fine

[Chrysalis]

Same here!  We have used bark before, but find the shavings and even the horse stuff (Rapport) very much better and sweet smelling.  We, too, need to recover the run as the plastic has perished.  Just hope we have enough sun this weekend to do it...

[JACDORE]

we have the exact same prob and our run sounds just like yours.  We use Bio Dri 10 Kg disinfectant/sanitising powder and scatter down their hay.

[carrie676]

Thanks everyone for your advice
Ive now put some of the horse bedding into the run which has absorbed some of the mud,lets hope it dries up soon,think my hens are feeling like they are at a very wet Glastonbury festival
Will also try some sanitiser once it dries out abit

[Happy Hens]

I too have a house with built in run.  We decided to lay slabs down with decorative bark in and I know in some books etc they say don't use barks as it holds the moisture and crates molds which then settles on the chickens chest and makes problems for them. But we think we mastered it by laying the slabs down first, which stop the bark mixing with the mud. Also it is a covered run so the bark drys out within a day or two off placing it in there and so doesn't crate mold on it. All in all it lasts much longer and I just go in every so often and given the bark a complete clean out putting fresh in.

This also helps with the ground as don't have to worry about treating the ground if the chickens are on it all the time. Worms etc

Also we have purchased our own chipper now and having a about a 1/4 of an area of wood land, never short for chippings.

[Chrysalis]

It's been dry here today, so we dug out the run and put the mud and stuff into compost bin to rot down, sprinkled stalosan on the ground and then a layer of rapport (horse bedding).  Lots of happy hens and I don't have to pay fees for the gym!

It'll rain again tomorrow, so not a moment too soon.. Good luck with your clean up!

[rosie14]

Hi we are in the same muddy situation with all this rain 

I did what Chrysalis did yesterday but didn't know about the stalosan or rapport. I am going to go google it as I have always thought how unhygenic it was to have the poop, earth etc mixing up and we have had chickens on the same spot for a few years now (albeit max of 3 in a bigish run!!). Athough we rake and scrape up often loading our compost often it's been on my mind, so thanks for doing this thread and to those whi have replied

[devonbarmygardener]

We have a mudbath too.

They don't seem too bothered but working on a solution all the same.