Well not so Glorious really. The mud around my chicken pens and garden is becoming a real pain in the bum. I hate having to walk through it twice a day to feed the birds and leave my muddy boots in our tiny litttle hallway. I've put down wood chip but it soon becomes part of the mud, and I've put down straw but that does much the same, what to do?
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| Mud! |
| I have come up with one solution, but t'ts going to involve a bit of effort (mind you all good things do!). It involves around a hundred 2ft x 2ft slabs I've been given (bargain). I've got to pick them up and bring them home first and they need a good wash off as they're quite black at the moment, but they should cover a large area. I'm thinking of a path down the veg garden and fruit garden and some paths to the chicken pen and feed shed. I'll probably just lay them on soil for now as I'm not sure where everything is going to stay at the moment, but it should go a long way to reducing the amount of mud around the place. I should even have some left over to maybe make a patio for the spring when my little girl should be out and about.  |
| Slabs |
The slbas are quite a large long term project - Anyone else got any ideas for reducing mud in this wet year that is a bit quicker?
I use pallets ( both inside the chicken run for them to stand on, and elsewhere for me to stand on) and slabs as a path - we got a load off Freecycle and laid a path from the barn by the garage, along side the polytunnel and out to the hens. Made a HUGE difference to the level of mud!
ReplyDeleteWood chip does not work well that well on mud which gets walked on a lot, for that I have found straw works better but either needs collecting up and composting regularly or a load more added on top at frequent intervals.
I use a combination of woodchip in the runs 9 which are protectected from the rain) pallets and slabs on pathways and straw in other muddy areas.
We used about 40 of the slabs on our path...but it really has helped!
ReplyDeleteYeah I'm going to make some paths with the slabs and just use the wood chip for somthing for the chickens to scratch about in and make their pen a bit drier.
DeleteWe use tree bark in big log size pieces.
ReplyDeleteJane x
I only have wood chip and tree bark is quite expensive to buy, my mum uses it all the time in her garden and it makes a nice feature edged with some large branches.
DeleteWe got some lorry loads of road planings as it was a complete mudbath all around the house.
ReplyDeletePrices vary in different areas but they are usually dirt cheap as it is simply the road surface that is scrapped up before new roads are laid and as you will know if you travel around this fair land there are always roadworks going on somewhere.
We did go and pick up the first load ourselves not knowing just how heavy they are and nearly killed our trailer and truck in the process, so we got the next few loads delivered for very little cost.
You can buy shredded rubber stuff for inside chickens runs that you can simply hose down (or pray for rain) every now and then to keep them clean, a good thick layer on membrane lasts indefinitely.
Sue xx
I think that it's so muddy here road planings would sink without a trace, They're also a bit permenant as I might want to move the pens around a bit in the future and it would be difficult to dig them out from the mud. The rubber sounds like a good idea though I might look into that - no need to hose it down with the weather we've been having!
Deleteis the hen run muddy?
ReplyDeletechickens HATE mud with a passion especially when it is cold....
luckily mine have an acre on which to keep their feet dry
Yep the chicken pen is pretty muddy! They've got lots to stand on out of the mud and the exlayers have got a massive pen so they can ecsape it a bit better than the legbars. There's no where I my land that isn't holding water though, I need to try and do some drainage in the next year or so!
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ReplyDeleteI have used some pavers too but they seem to get swallowed up by the mud! Looking forward to seeing how you do with them....any hints would be appreciated!
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