The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: doganjo on November 01, 2010, 12:15:38 pm
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The weather has been so wet that I have only just got round to trying to catch up on cleaning out the chicken run. I need to do this before I can find a solution to what is best to put on the ground to prevent build up again. It started off as a decent grass run - have tried hardcore, builders sand, straw, and have some boards down so I can walk reasonably safely to the shed - which is easy to clean out with vinyl on the floor.
Anyone got any ideas, it is a nightmare and I'm terrified the SSPCA will come along and shut me in jail! The chickens themselves are fine, but the smell must be bad for neighbours sometimes.
By the way the white/grey stuff in the shed is diatom ::) - I am very liberal with that and mitekill :-[ - just in case ;) ;D ;D ;D
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looks very simular to ours. the pigs escaping and turhing most of the front has not helped nether have the geese.
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i would put some sub base dawn .make it more solid .as well as tacking out a foot off the wet ground
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i would put some sub base dawn .make it more solid .as well as tacking out a foot off the wet ground
Not sure what you mean Gary - is sub base not the same as hardcore or Type 1? And what do you mean by "tacking out a foot off the wet ground"
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lots of spade work. sniff my back hurts just thinking about it.
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Might be as cheap but certainly easier to put a corrugated plastic roof over the area ???
Ian
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Couldn't you let them into the garden bit behind the gate all day - that will give the muddy bit a chance to dry out? Maybe make them a temporary run out there for a few weeks.
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not sure from the pics of the size of the run , but the easiest way would be too lay paving slabs . You just need to clear the muck off and lay the slabs as and when you get them . No need to do it all in one go , just as you can either buy them or get them off of something like freecycle .
Broken ones will do , just lay them like crazy paving . All you need do is clear the area you are going to lay the slabs on , then chuck down a load of sand and roughly level it , and then lay the slabs ...job done .
There after you only need sweep with a stiff broom or even hose or pressure washer it down when needed. You may need either a drain off area or a sump to take excess water , both easy to do over time .
I know it isn't ideal , and doesn't look nice and natural , but to look natural you need a huge area with only a few birds on it .
I have seen people use gravel etc , but it bloody stinks like hell after a time . Slabs are much easier to live with , and not hard to lay either . Some builders yards sell broken ones off really cheap (some don't ! ).
I laid my shed floor and an area outside , with flat stones from the river that runs through my land ...works a treat and was free !!!!
(http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/ab298/rustyme572/the%20shed/IMAG0003.jpg)
Hope it gives you some ideas Annie ...
cheers
Russ
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would pallets work? might just be a mad idea so please ignore if it is
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Couldn't you let them into the garden bit behind the gate all day - that will give the muddy bit a chance to dry out? Maybe make them a temporary run out there for a few weeks.
They are out there most of the time, most days, hasn't made any difference so far. ::)
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Hope it gives you some ideas Annie ...
cheers
Russ
Looks a great idea, Russ, except - I am female, 66, unfit, on a pension, and broke! The run is about 36 feet long and 12 feet wide with a one foot high dyke down the middle.
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I think bamford6 means taking a foot of the current surface out and laying Type 1 down at a descent depth.
But looking at your recent post - I think the idea of maybe some pallets might work.
Ta
Baz
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I have a couple of pallets in my hen house. I use a wide toothed grass rake to clean it out and put the waste on my compost heap. I have wood shavings on the floor. Havent had a problem, famous last words. lol
Cheers Helen
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you would need to dig out about 16 tons of soil plus the water then you would need to add a good 20 plus tons of stone. not a realistic task. you would be fitter but more skint. getting rid of the soil would be the expensive thing. land drains with a sump may be you best bet. but were the chucks are is going to be muddy because the are always on it.
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I have a similar problem and thought that if I laid wood chips down in paths where I walk, and bordered the paths with whatever wood I had lying about to keep the chips in place for longer that might work at least for the winter.
So I was in B&Q at the weekend for chips - they didn't have any! But they did have rolls of 'substandard' turf going for a quid each. They looked fine and green to me. I just bought 3 as an even more temporary measure to lay in the worst areas. It seems to be working so far. But I warn you, they are heavy to lift - but easy to lay.
Also when I was there I noticed they had a large box full of broken slabs with a sign saying 'free - help yourself'! :)
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Russ, that floor looks too attractive to be used for chickens!!!!! THe 2 slabs by the gate to the chicken area is always getting muddy, I have to shovel the much off very often, the rest is gravel and that stays dry......maybe a plastic roof wood help, the sheets I use were very cheap and easy to cut to size!!! Maybe the best option would be to move the whole lot!
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the floor is just stones from the river Sandy, nothing special , the floor is not even flat . I just laid some plastic damp proof membrane down then some finer gravel/sand from the river , then the flat stones. It is just the floor for the shed, that at the moment is being used as a forge and general work shed.
I was going to just have the floor as gravel , but after digging the gravel from the river and carrying it in buckets the 60 yards to the shed ( the ground was too wet for a wheel barrow), laying 2" all over the 10'x10' floor area , I had had enough . It needed another 2" more depth. So , plan B .... lay flat stones on the gravel . They still had to be collected (no digging) from the river and carried , but were just easier to manage , and as you say they look good too. They remind me of old Roman roads in Pompeii !! ( I notice that volcano in Iceland is about to go pop again !!!! ) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pompeii
Annie , go careful if you use pallets outside . They would be like grease covered ice, once they had a layer of mud and crap on them in the wet weather . Plus they would make ideal rat runs .
cheers
Russ
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Annie , go careful if you use pallets outside . They would be like grease covered ice, once they had a layer of mud and crap on them in the wet weather . Plus they would make ideal rat runs .
Already have that problem anyway, and can't lay bait in case Rio catches and eats a rat. Also have had the slippy wood problem too - put decking on last house that I built and went out one night, slipped on black ice that had formed due to a sudden temperature drop, down I went, leg doubled under me, still have problems with that knee. So not pallets. Too wet to dig out any more today, busy tomorrow, in Edinburgh Thursday, so will need to wait till Friday
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Been working hard last few days - about on third of muck cleared from run, some in compost bin which is now almost full, some spread on old raised bed, hopefully to grow cut flowers in next year, some around the bottom of the shrubbery bank to kill off the rampant weeds, thistles etc. Did some more today, dug out trench adjacent to walk boards, water started to drain into it so dug out hole beside gate for it to drain into, then filled trench up with left over gravel from garden makeover. Need to dig deeper hole at gate and make it solid enough to walk on, but much improved already. Still don't know what to put on top of the sharp sand that I've dug down to. Need to do it quick though as the chooks will mess it up again. Nothing doing tomorrow as off to Edinburgh with my sister to do more of family tree at Scotlands People Centre. But feel a bit more positive about it now.
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Well done, Annie, that sounds like a lot of work for one person!! :)
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Had a good day at Scotland's People Centre in Edinburgh. Not sure what we achieved but enjoyed trying to tie up people with other people. Fascinating stuff, met a couple who had taken a weeks holiday and spending every day in there! Nothing better to do on a wet Thursday anyway! ;) ;D
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Looks pretty much like mine do in the winter, we have tried all sorts of things, a covered roof is the best solution so far and even that is not 100%, I was lucky enough to have a treecare contractor come and ask me if I wanted any woodchip from some trees they were cutting up the road, how much I asked him, free he said, then yes please said I, 10 cubic metres then arrived!! Ask around your local tree care companies if they are giving any away, sometimes its cheaper for them to do that than take it back to the yard and process it.
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Tried bark about a year ago just as the grass had been trashed - it just got trodden into the mud. I might try a cover though as there is a 6 foot fence along one side of the run, and a four foot one at the other side. Not this week or next though, up to my eyes in dog stuff! Shows, training, and a Brittany event to run!
Thanks fro all teh suggestions folks, perhaps the covered run is the best idea.
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The OH and I are about to build our larger permanent run - just waiting on the wire delivery. I already 'discussed' (told) with OH that we need a roof on it so it doesnt become a quagmire. We have priced up the sheets from B&Q and Wickes so far - but it definitely seems the best option.
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I spoke to my son last night and he is going to help me put a roof on the run, that should help, but the rain will still get in the sides, so still need something firm on the ground.
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I've got those fairly big york stone chippings. I dig them up every couple of months and wash them through and put em back down. My chook roof is only pallets so the rain gets through the gaps but it seems to cope quite well. Hope that helps.
Ian