Grow Your Own Magazine

I am worried about my chickens because of the weather....

Every inch of land we have is waterlogged and although we're moving their run every day, by the end of the day, it ends up as a muddy puddle (more suited to ducks than chickens!)

In the summer, we would only move them every 2 or 3 days, but we're fast running out of land in this weather

They end up churning the ground up and just stood in an inch or so of mud. Obviously, the grass isn't growing back yet and I've got a field full of mud and water

They seem alright in themselves, and we're keeping their house super-clean to stop infections etc (because of the mud)

Can I do anything else for them?

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"Its not who you are underneath, it's what you do that defines you" - Bruce Wayne

Can you put down a thick layer of wood/bark chips? It would give them something to scratch around on but raise the ground level above the waterlogging. There are lots of people with similar problems at the mo

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Dwell simply ~ love richly

I'd need at least 2 or 3 inches of woodchip or bark to get above the water though, so not sure if it's practical (we're that waterlogged - it's what happens when you live practically on the beach... )

Will speak to Mr OWG about trying to get a ton or so of bark tonight....

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"Its not who you are underneath, it's what you do that defines you" - Bruce Wayne

Are you able to stick some pallets in the run? That would give them an area out of the mud.

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Happy Gardening,
Shirley

http://www.honeyjukes.co.uk

Any chance you have a patio big enough for the run? I'm lucky -we have an enourmous patio so our 4' by 8' house and run fits on. Damp paviours might not be ideal - but better than trench foot!

Pallets are probably your best bet - don't scrounge blue ones, their numbered, collected and recycled.

Your local garden center might give you some of the plain ones for free?

If the the run they have has a flat top, could you fit a sheet of clear plastic over the top of the run, this would then keep some of the rain off their particular bit of grass. If so move them to a bit of garden you don't mind going bare, together with the plastic they will end up with a bit of bare earth but at least it will be 80% dry and then come the spring you can reseed the bare patch. Make sure you give them some extra food.

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Seeing as everyone else has one - http://westwardsettler.blogspot.com/

"It is a cliché that most clichés are true, but then like most clichés, that cliché is untrue."

We're found a solution...

The chickens are going to live in our greenhouse for a few weeks.... (pitcure of greenhouse below)

It's empty at the moment, but has weeds in it ( ) and they've got soil to grub around in.

We can't fit their ark in there, but Mr OWG is modifying one of our dog crates for the time being for them

Hopefully it should give the land some time to dry out and time for the grass to start growing again....

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"Its not who you are underneath, it's what you do that defines you" - Bruce Wayne

I bet they will be delighted! Well done for finding a solution.

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Happy Gardening,
Shirley

http://www.honeyjukes.co.uk

my chickens spend a lot of time in our greenhouse at the moment, we havent got anything growing in there at the moment and they are having fun with an old bag of compost

we have even had a few eggs laid there

hope the land dries up a bit for all of us

ann

Delux! Only thing that worries me - if we do get a bright sunny day, will they over heat?

Wish I had a greenhouse that big.......

If (and it's a big if) we have a sunny day, I'll just open the roof vents and windows. Mr OWG is working on fitting some mesh to the windows so they can't fly out!

The greenhouse is a good size, but sadly is very old and is rotting away at an alarming rate

We think it might last us another year before we have to take it apart (or it falls apart), especially if we have more storms.

The worst thing is knowing that we can't afford to replace it with like for like, as it would cost us £££'s

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"Its not who you are underneath, it's what you do that defines you" - Bruce Wayne