[karlooben]

i am looking at putting slabs in my run { large pavement slabs and smaller ones } the woodbark is almost buried now so the run is becoming a swamp again and i am getting paranoid that the swamping woodbark and mud isnt good for the girls so i am looking this wekend to add the slabs . has anyone got slabs down if so do u have them on soil with sand unerneath or just direct on the soil ? i dont really fancy the idea of trying to dig down to the soil as 1 - the smell will be unbearable  2 - and there is a lot of it to dig up .

but i am concerned about just laying the slabs down and then any germs etc building up under them , i am thinking of just making them into sqaure sections like 1 metre by 2 and placing them here an there within the run and then filling in the odd bits with large 20 mm pea single .
 i have placed single slabs down and when i have lifted them over time there has always been mould under them ....

[grinling]

Putting a roof on would stop it getting very muddy. Plastic sheeting is cheap or corrugated.

[karlooben]

i would like to but its a large run  something thats pretty impossiable to do .

[jackie]

we had that problem of the run getting too wet. we've now covered two thirds in plastic sheeting. its much better. personally i wouldnt like paving slabs as my girls like to scratch and peck the ground all the time.

[lucylou]

hi! i know what you mean about the mould - but only noticed it when slabs are resting on the bark, if they are direct onto earth i dont think they will go mouldy. ive put a few down this week straight on to the mud. We dug over the run last week - phew you should have smelt the decompsosing leaves i was worried the next door neighbours washing would smell of it - as it was drying on the line at the time! weve laid some of their run to grass by putting down turves - that has worked for the time being - sick of all the rain and muddy eggs all the time

[karlooben]

thanks lucy . i have dug my run over a few times an regretted it even after 2 washes my clothes still smelt  .

 but does it just get done now so its out the way or wait until { thats a joke } for everything to become bone dry again so hopfully it wont smell so much actully i didnt think of the mould coming from the bark  i should of done as we have slabs all over the allotments and each time i lift one i normally only find bindweed roots  oh and worms .

grinling and jackie my run is 6 metres by 10 metres to roof it in plastic or tarpaulin would not be worth it as i wont be able to seam it together to stop the rain coming though and to make a proper roof it would cost about £400 for the sheets of ondulin an other bits .