[Tosca]

Hello,

We have a small city garden, and three hens who free range all day every day. Our house is rented and when we first got the hens it was paving slabbed, but our landlord lifted the slabs with the intention of leaving a section of earth for the hens and turfing/ patio ing the rest for us. Unfortunately when he lifted them we discovered we only have 6 inches (at best) of soil on top of an all encompassing concrete bed with no drainage. So he left it saying the turf wouldn't survive. I have no idea what to do now, the whole garden is just a giant pool of icky slurry after all the rain and snow and it smells bad! I'm also worried about germs and illnesses for us and the hens in all the muck. Does anyone have any idea of what i could put down on the earth to soak up the water and make it better? Would getting a load of gravel help? Also, is there anything i can use on the earth to clean it up a bit that would be safe for the hens?
And ideas at all would be really appreciated, thank you.

[Chookiechook]

My big hens run was a bit like this.... so I scraped all the goo off of the top and put tonnes of shavings down..... it has soaked up the wet and made a sort of crumbly composty base which doesnt blow around alot.... would be easier to scrape up too and make fresh....

Depends on how easily it would get blown around I suppose

[Lindeggs]

If the mud has a nasty sour smell, you could add dolomite lime to it to try to correct the acidity.  Dolomite is safe for your hens. 

It also really needs to be drained and aerated - two things that plants can be very good at.  I would suggest talking to a local garden centre about what plants will grow successfully in your area, in the swampy conditions that you have.  This might involve fencing off the area from your hens until the plants get established.

Also consider talking to your landlord about long-term solutions.  If he pulled up the pavers he should really think about the mess that has been left behind!  Ideally the concrete slab would be broken up to allow water to drain through, but you could also consider laying drainage pipes under the area.   

[helens-hens]

Hi Tosca. Thinking of the disease aspect, you could get a product like Stalosan F which is a dry disinfectant powder, non-toxic, to sprinkle over. This would help disinfect the area and reduce smells.

In the long term you will probably need to do something to give them some type of flooring. How big is your garden?

[Tosca]

Hello, thank you for the ideas so far - they are really helpful. Where would i buy Stalosan F, would somewhere like Countrywide sell it? My garden is about 20 feet wide x 25 feet long so really tiny. I'm wondering whether to get a bigger coop and run that they could stay in all the time and put it on paving slabs or something like that, but it seems a bit unkind when they are used to being out all day 

[helens-hens]

Hi Tosca. I'm sure got mine from here: http://www.countryfayre-countrystore.co.uk/disinfectant-cleaning-sanitising-products/stalosan-f-disinfectant-8kg/prod_298.html. Its a big tub but a little goes a long way so it will last you for ages.

What I have done is put down cheap paving slabs and placed their house/run over this. They are also allowed out into the rest of the garden when I am around but as this is only for a limited amount of time it easy to keep on top of poo picking!

The run is covered and I put horse bedding (easibed or similar) over the paving slabs as a flooring. This is also easy to poo pick and every couple of weeks I dispose of it, scrub the slabs & put new bedding down. It keeps the hens clean & dry and there is no smell!

Hope this helps.

[Tosca]

Oh that sounds brilliant, thank you! I think that will work with my hens and hopefully give the garden half a chance as well. Thanks for the link too 

[Sassy]

They do need something on top of the paving as they like to scratch about and this is natural behaviour

[helens-hens]

I use horse bedding on top of the paving slabs which they like to scratch around in & even occasionally have dust baths!. They are probably best though if the run is covered.

Wood chippings would probably be a better option if the run isn't covered though I find they aren't quite as easy to poo pick

[swedishchicken]

Hi
We had similar problems and we solved it with large chip bark. You can get it at B and Q and it smells really nice when you put it down, and you can just add some more bags as and when you need it.
In the chickens run I have tried a lot of different things and I have had topsoil in there at the moment, and it works really well.
You can dig it over, to freshen it up, and you can just keep adding more topsoil as and when you need it.

Good luck