Mud!

[froomeonthebroom]

We've had our chickens for about a month now and their area of the garden is becoming a mud bath!

Anyone got any fairly cheap suggestions of how to improve this?

Yes, ensure that they have a cover over some of their area. Mine have a covered run (clear corrugated plastic and shower curtains/tarps over the run. If its horrendous weather outside I keep them in as some have feathery feet and I don't want them to get bumblefoot.
We also use bark chippings to help with things generally underfoot.

yep - that's what chickens do OP! can you move them around in the garden at all. can you put some slabs down on part of it or use something to cover it over. they do like to scratch and this is the downside unfortunately. agree with brambles you need to keep an eye on bumblefoot possibility.

"chickens make mud and lay eggs" - how my niece described the jots of chicken ownership..... sorry......

jots?!?!? joys.....

They are destructive little sods! I have a clear tarp covering the top and sides of my run with just the end open for ventilation. On Saturday we moved the run onto the patio. Its currently sitting on a sheet of tarp with net tex ground sanitising powder and a good layervof aubiose horse bedding. Most of it has stayed dry although its damp near the open end. I've obviously got a smallish (3m run) but am hoping the net tex & aubiose if kept dry wil dry out the poos and mean I have to clean it out less frequently. Hope this helps!

Apologies for typos but I find it difficult on my phone.

madeofstardust - my quote of the week grin

Thanks for the replies. Maybe I had an optimistic idea of how much mud they would create!