need help with chicken yard

[lyne]

hi everyone,
i am having a problem with my chicken yard and hope someone out there can help me. i have 19 hens, 4 roosters, and 3 ducks. they all share a barn and yard. i can not free range my birds since i have dogs that don't play well with others. my problem is that the birds have eaten all the greenery in their yard and it is now a dirt patch. during the dry season this is fine but when we get rain and after the snow it is one giant mud pie. this was not an issue for me when i was in arizona since it would dry up right away but here in missouri it is driving me crazy. what can i do to fix this? is there anything i can plant that the birds will leave alone but not get sick on if they eat it? if i put gravel down will it hurt the ducks? will it just make my problem worse? please help. thank lyne

[lateaprildawn]

Hi lyne,

I kept hens for many years and belive me they can turn any ground into a quagmire very quickly.

As long as they have a dry roost and have overnight respite from the mud they will be fine.

I do have two suggestions depending on the space you have to play with.

When i just had one fixed run I used to scatter straw, it binds the mud a little and if you throw in a little grain they will still scratch away.

The second idea was when i had a little more room for pens. I would make the pens into oblong sections . eg the pen was 20 ft long and 6 ft deep. I would block off a third of it at a time ,just to give the ground time to drain and solidify. I moved the chickens into different "thirds" of the run as and when it looked necessary.

I found that if I blocked parts off for a few days and rotate the areas it really did pay off.

Hope that helps.
Best wishes,
April

[mom]

hi everyone,
i am having a problem with my chicken yard and hope someone out there can help me. *i have 19 hens, 4 roosters, and 3 ducks. *they all share a barn and yard. *i can not free range my birds since i have dogs that don't play well with others. *my problem is that the birds have eaten all the greenery in their yard and it is now a dirt patch. *during the dry season this is fine but when we get rain and after the snow it is one giant mud pie. *this was not an issue for me when i was in arizona since it would dry up right away but here in missouri it is driving me crazy. *what can i do to fix this? *is there anything i can plant that the birds will leave alone but not get sick on if they eat it? *if i put gravel down will it hurt the ducks? *will it just make my problem worse? *please help. *thank lyne
can you build a chicken tractor to move around to other places while their yard heals.