Surface for run areas - advice please

[OhWesternWind]

Hello fellow hen keepers!

Our hens have their coop and run on a small grassed area, which has been fine in the warm dry weather but is now turning into a mud bath, both in the run itself and also the route we use to get to the coop. I've been thinking of putting some bark chippings down to give a better surface - would this be any good? Does anyone have any better ideas?

We're able to move the house and run a little bit but this will just be onto another bit of the grass, so I think this is a problem we are going to have to sort out somehow unless we want black-legged hens all winter! They have food from a hanging feeder but any scraps we put in the run for them are getting dirty very quickly.

Thanks for your help.

We also have our run on what is essentially just mud, esp. with all this rain.

My dh has put quite a few paving slabs down for them to walk on and I just hose them off every day and sprinkle some Stalosan down to keep them fresh. They do still have scratching ground (which has turned to mud), but at least they have some hardstanding so that they don't end up with trench foot.

Bark chips are okay, but you still can't escape from the mud I'm afraid.

My light sussex is now covered in mud and is practically black!!! lol

Same problem here. Have just moved them to another area and incorporated a huge flowerbed for them to scratch in - it's saving the grass - the house is still on grass. Am going to move their house and it's run onto concrete at back of garage for winter and use elec fencing to secure off another large shrub bed - at least it'll save the grass.

We have our coop on concrete and their outside run is on the paving slabs/mud. At least they have somewhere to shelter when it's wet.

they don't mind getting wet and dirty though!
Ours havea covered run, and an open run.
the open run has a few ramps (ie planks of wood raised off the ground, connecting a tyre and concrete blocks), so they can get to places without having to go in the mud - they do enjoy the ramps, as chickens are birds, after all, so they like jumping up.

concrete slabs are also a good idea. (maybe rise a couple on a course of bricks?)

raise

We've bitten the bullet and moved the coop and run onto the patio for the duration (with some bark chips in the run to give them something to scratch around in) - seems to be working well so far! Will see how it goes over the winter. Their big run (where we let them out when we're around) has a tree, bush and grass in so it's quite interesting for them.

I like the idea of the ramps - thanks nickelbabe - and will set some up for them when I have a moment!

I've covered part of the run to keep it drier but I also put down straw or chippings when it gets bad.

I use bark chippings, but they end up as mud in the end, I usually renew them twice during the winter (I put them on grass, put chippings down when it goes to mud, then move to new grass and repeat). Mine have a run with a wire roof, so I strap a tarpaulin over that in the winter to keep it a bit dryer underneath.

We've had this problem too and yesterday I covered their run with a transparent shower curtain to try and help keep it a bit drier in the winter. I also put bags of hardwood chips in the run, which I replace every couple of months and that seems to help.