If you have ever dealt with a wet chicken run, then you know what a headache it can be. This post will help you deal with a wet chicken run and all the mud and mess that comes with it.
If you have chickens, then you already know what a fun and quirky animal they are. There is nothing I love more than watching my flock chatter and cluck as they make their way around the yard.
Chickens love to scratch and are pretty efficient at it. The problem is they can turn a lush plot of grass into a dirt pile in just days. And that dirt pile, in turn, can become a plot of mud with just one rainfall.
One of the worst places on our farm in spring is our chicken run.
There is just no way around it. When the snow melts it just sits there in the chicken run in stagnant puddles. We desperately need drainage, but that is buried somewhere at the bottom of Hubby’s to-do list so I don’t expect it will get done anytime soon.
So, as usual, I am looking for a plan B to hold me over (and the chickens) until the problem can be fixed.
SLCG PRO TIP: Please note that I live in Northwestern Pennsylvania so my tip may not work if you live in a much wetter climate. Also, this is only a temporary fix and if your area is prone to heavy rains, you will want to find a more solid solution such as the drainage I mentioned above.
How to Deal With a Wet Chicken Run
If you are not careful, chickens can get frostbite on their combs and wattles and that is why it is so important to be sure you have shelter for them year-round. Although uncommon, chickens can get frostbite on their feet and for that reason, it is important to have a dry and warm place for them to stand in any weather.
Lay Down Some Hay
My goats, well actually most goats are very picky eaters especially when it comes to their hay. They are notorious for picking out only the best grass and letting the rest fall to the ground where it sits and piles up. Rather than toss all that discarded hay into the compost pile I have found second use in the wet chicken run.
Once a week or so I remove this hay and toss it into the chicken coop in thick piles. The hay provides a temporary dry surface for the hens in the run and keeps them and the inside coop much cleaner. No, it’s true, this is not the very best fix but in a pinch, it will get you by until you can do more permanent solutions.
The hens love the hay as well and spend most of their days scratching it into the mud which in turn quickly composts it down for me. By the time, I am ready to plant my garden I have a great supply of rich dark wonderful compost.
READ: COMPOST – BLACK GOLD FOR YOUR GARDEN
Around April I just wait for a warm and sunny day. (Make sure it’s sunny so you can dry out the run quicker)
I head to my coop armed with a wheelbarrow, pitchfork, and hopefully a willing child of mine to help. It is pretty thick at this point (about 4-8 inches) and it’s not an easy task but the payoff is a good one so I don’t mind too much.
Once I take all I need for my garden I will keep the hens out of the run for about an hour or two. This will allow the warm sun to dry up the new ground pretty quickly taking us back down to the original soil to get us through the summer.
What if you do not have excess discarded hay to use in your run?
Other Wet Chicken Run Options
Straw
Straw, in my opinion, works better than hay since there are no seeds found in straw keeping your coop and surrounding yard free of weeds and other unwanted growth. Just as you would with the straw, you can lay down a few piles in the really wet areas. This will just help to keep the mud down a bit as you wait for the weather to make up it’s mind.
Grass Clippings
If it’s summer, grass clippings are perfect for a wet run and provide (almost) the same benefits as the straw does. It does not seem to work as well as the straw but if that is all you have it will do a good enough job to get you through.
My chickens LOVE grass clippings. There are usually many bugs found mixed in with the cut grass so the chickens will spend time looking for treats. Cut grass is a great boredom buster for hens any time of year.
Leaves
If it’s fall, dry leaves will work just as well and are another favorite of chickens. There can be quite a few bugs in those leaves and chickens love their bugs. Again, your goal is to put your focus where the worst of the mud is, usually, this ends up being the main path in your coop. Drop-in piles of leaves to give a dryer spot for them to stand.
Spare Wood Scraps
If you find yourself without any lawn clippings or leaves to use in the run, wooden pallets or discarded wood can be a good temporary fix until things dry up. We burn wood in the winter for our heat so we have quite a bit of bark and wood chips to dump into our run if needed.
Another option is to place in a few logs. Chickens will use these as perches and stand on them throughout the day. Logs are a more long-term fix as they can stay in the run all year long.
Make a Move
In particularly wet seasons sometimes I have found that no amount of fixing will help other than letting the ground dry up on its own. That is when I will move my gals to a dry spot with a portable fence. I have several portable electric nettings that are great for this. I can move the hens anywhere I need them to be and they love the change of scenery and their run gets a well-deserved rest.
Full Hay Bales
You can also reuse a hay bale in a saturated chicken run as well. Chickens really love to climb and I will often find several of them on it throughout the day. Usually, within a few months, the hay or straw bale will be torn apart and worked into the ground.
Where we live, straw and hay are pretty affordable just $3-$5 a bale so, for us, it’s an inexpensive alternative.
SLCG PRO TIP: Remember to watch your chicken runs. If you find you are having a particularly wet season, the matter (AKA straw, hay, leaves, etc) you put on the muddy ground may rot before it is able to compost down. If you find this is happening to you, it is important to remove it at this point so your chickens do not get sick or develop a respiratory illness.
Get your chickens up off the ground
You can also put in a few random things that will help to get your chickens up and out of the mud.
A few examples are:
- Tires
- Step ladder
- Cinder blocks
- Logs
Your goal is to find what you have around your home that you can use to give a barrier between your chickens and the cold wet and muddy ground.
Build a buffer from the rain.
If things are really wet where you live, you may want to help dry a patch out with a heavy-duty tarp. This can be just enough to shelter a small area inside of your chicken run giving a patch of dry ground for your chickens to go to. Be sure to use a heavy-duty tarp so it will withstand the season before it begins to tear and shred.
When installing a tarp you will want to angle the top so any water or snow will run off more easily.
Step #1. Using a board you can nail in the top of the tarp to the roof of your chicken coop. The board will help to keep the tarp from tearing in any heavy winds that are common in stormy weather.
Step #2. Use zip ties to attach the tarp to any fencing that you have nearby to keep the wind from pulling it up.
Step #3. Finally, use stakes or bricks at the bottom to anchor it down at the ground as well.
Build a more permanent solution.
If you have the tools and supplies on hand you can also build a small roof off the side of the coop. This added shelter is a great way to keep a dry spot throughout the entire year. Not only in the spring but winter as well.
We constructed this roof using scrap metal roofing that was leftover from another project.
A small wooden board at one end stops the wind from coming in giving a nice dry area in an otherwise messy and muddy chicken run.
When homesteading it is important to think outside of the box. Look at the situation from all sides and see what you can come up with using supplies you already have on hand. Remember, it doesn’t have to be pretty, although that is nice, just effective and you may be surprised at how well an idea of yours will work out.
When dealing with a situation such as a wet chicken run, look at the tools and supplies you have all around you and think creatively about how to resolve a problem. I love the challenge of making something out of nothing and see this as an essential homesteading skill.
Discarded hay? Random cinder block? Extra cut logs? Instead, see it as a solution for your soggy and wet chicken run.
Hi there, my name is Tracy and I am a city girl gone country. I am a redneck frugal living goat owner and I am working everyday towards living a more simple life. Now I am teaching others how to do the same. From growing their own food, making their own cleaning supplies, cutting back, and paring down. It’s all about making more of what we need so we spend less, save oodles of money and live better!
A muddy yard was my biggest chicken raising nightmare until I discovered pine pellets, available from any local feed store. They are super cheap! I think I pay only $8 per 40# bag. Pine pellets are not the same as pine shavings. They are shredded pine that is compressed into pellet form. I do mix them with shavings by pouring a couple of bags of each onto the most drenched, muddy areas of the yard. Within 24 hours most of the puddles get soaked up by the pellets. As the pellets soak up the moisture, they first expand (like a sponge) and then gently fall apart so what you wind up with is a soft, fluffy floor of pine sawdust. The chickens won’t eat it, it’s perfectly safe. They are a lifesaver for a muddy run/yard!
Hi Kristine,
That is a great idea, I have not sued pine pellets before. I am usually not one to purchase anything unless we absolutely have to, but maybe if they are super cheap 🙂 I will give them a try. Thanks for sharing!
I was on a poultry conference the other day where they specifically warned us against using sawdust (not pellets) because it’s know to cause respiratory issues in chickens.
Yes, you are exactly correct, that is why I do not recommend using sawdust.
You have some interesting ideas. The reason I don’t do this for my chickens, however, is because this can result in mold and mildew which in turn can cause respiratory issues for my chickens. Instead, I pre-planned runs (they have 4) around the coop that I rotate them on every 3 months. When this design was built in built the coop and runs on higher ground so there would be no standing water. It gets really wet in Louisiana so I’m always looking for new ideas. After 10 years with chickens I’ve decided the design I currently works the best for my situation.
Hello Kit,
I absolutely agree, my methods are probably only useful in damp conditions rather than overly wet like your state is. During very rainy periods I do have to go out and remove any hay that may be rotting rather than decomposing.
I just love the setup you have for your flock, what a great idea!
Have a great day,
Tracy Lynn
I have a corral and i use it now for ducks and chickens it was mucky, muddy. I had those people that cut the tree limbs along the road and around power lines, dump a load of their shredded chips in the corral. I had a few goats in there at the time and left it mostly in s mound but scatter some around with a silage fork. They liked to climb on the mound but then a year or so I put the ducks and chickens in there. They love that mulch, they have dug in it and scattered it all over the corral, its really breaking down to awesome potting soil, mulch, etc. I scatter hay or straw on it periodically for them to scratch arpund and eat what goodies they find in it, but they still dig deep into the dark mulch and find grubs and such and also they make a hollow to sit in.
Thank you for your helpful info. We have been fighting a wet chicken run all winter. Today we put down hay that we had for our horse. Seems a to be working so far. BTW my 11 Hens and one roosters were scared of the hay when we first added it. They hid in the coop for a while, we got them to come out by putting some scratch on the ramp that goes into the coop. It was enough to lure them back to the run. We also added a tarp to the top of the run to keep it dryer. No more walking in an inch of mud and poop for my girls and guy. I’m sure we will have to add more in a few days but it is so much better at this point!!
So, glad you found it helpful Loretta!
Just be warned, you will need to remove that straw and hay come spring and it’s not easy. So only add what you absolutely need to.
Stay dry!
Tracy Lynn
I always use egg yolk thinned with a bit of water carefully fed with eyedropper. Carefully clean beak after each feeding. Keep it warm and preferably put one other chick in with it that is eating on its own. This gives it company, warmth and it will start to eat on its own faster watching the healthy chick eat.
This is a great tip, thank you for sharing!