Stone chippings in chook run

Hi everyone. I've mentioned on here before that my once grassy compound now looks like the Gobi Desert after my girls have had their run of it for the last 18 months. I was going to move them to my other compound to give a chance for the ground to recover (I was going to sanitise it as well), but this will not be an option this year. I live in Wales and as most of you know, we have torrential rain during most of the Autumn/Winter months (in Summer it also rains but the rain is warm!). Consequently, it is now the Gobi mud bath.

 Most of it drains freely as there is a very gentle slope but right outside their coop there is a level area (about 15'x20') and it's this area that has become water logged - the mud can be over an inch deep in places which isn't very pleasant for my girls and it's dirtying the eggs. Plus, if you can imagine Torvil & Dean on mud rather than ice, that's what my husband and I look like when we go in there!

My question is - can I use stone chippings to cover this area as it will provide an excellent walkway for my girls. I was going to use the larger rounded type so as not to introduce anything sharp or anything small enough to be mistaken for a corn kernel.

I've tried wood chip and this has just sunk into oblivion....

Can anyone foresee any problems?

Hi Skywise! We thought about slabbing but since the area isn't completely flat we thought the slabs would break, plus we have a few slabs approaching the compound and they all split last year because of the low temperatures during the Winter.

I think we may stick with the chippings just outside their coop and if that doesn't work I'll rake them to even out the lumps and bumps and then try slabbing.

Would it be feasible to cover the run?
I've used a huge tarpaulin from Wickes but our run has a metre high roof of wood/netting to drape it over. I weigh it down with roof tiles. Sometimes I'll remove it at one end to let sunshine or a bit of rain in to dampen it down.
This means I can use bark and natural leaf litter from the trees on earth which stays dry and they love digging and dust baths.. Then I move the whole caboodle of Eglu Cube and extended run (3m) twice a year to let the earth refresh.

Could you dig a run-off channel between the bottom of the slope & the flat bit?  Not as complicated as a soakaway, but would lead excess rainwater clear.  Then it might be worth slabbing or chipping (on weed matting or similar) which could be a long-term project once the water runs somewhere else.

Have you  considered ducks?