It seemed such a good idea at the time...

[Icemaiden]

A few weeks ago, with my compost heaps overflowing with lovely compost (thanks to the mix of aubiose & chicken poo), I found myself with nowhere to empty the poo bucket each day. So I decided to wheelbarrow the contents of one well composted heap to the chicken run.

It certainly delighted the hens. The floor was covered in a 4" layer of fine, crumbly compost full of interesting stuff to rootle through. They were thrilled!

Then it rained. And rained. And rained a bit more. Now the run's a muddy quagmire & most of the eggs are covered in muddy clawprints. Our white leghorn is decidedly off-white in places...

It seemed such a good idea at the time...

What have you done that seemed a good idea but turned out not to be??

 

[Marigold]

I’m not sure if this counts as a mistake or not, but it felt like one at the time.
Back in 1978, eldest daughter was crying herself to sleep (or trying it on) because she so wanted chickens, so we bought a brooder etc and 8 sweet little tiny Silkie chicks. All survived our loving and inexperienced care, turned into lovely birds
6 cockerels and only two pullets. There was a semi-derelict farm a few miles away, with a flock of chickens living wild in the unused barns and fending for themselves, so I’m ashamed to say we dropped off our cockerels to a life of freedom. I hope they enjoyed it. The other birds looked well fed and happy enough. The two tiny hens lived long and much-loved lives, being cuddled and dressed in dolls clothes and sat on laps to watch children’s TV after school. Matilda, aged 8, eventually drowned when she fell in the ponies’ drinking trough.

One thing that turned out to be a really good idea, though, after the run was getting as muddy and messy as yours in wet weather, Icemaiden, was to put a roof and a gutter over the living area. Floor and hens stayed dry from then on.
I suppose the compost on the run floor is in the process of becoming extra-fertile, now it’s been twice ‘treated’? Lovely stuff - when it dries out a bit!

 

[Icemaiden]

We did try putting a tarpaulin roof up a few years ago. We used the supplier you'd recommended & got a heavy duty one with metal eyelets & tied it really tightly with rope. But when it rained the eyelets failed, the tarpaulin filled with water & nearly collapsed the whole enclosure. The run hasn't had a waterproof roof since, just the chicken wire to keep the squirrels out...

 

[Marigold]

Yes I tried a tarp at first, with the same results as you report. Then, after the wettest summer on record in 2009 we got it covered in clear plastic corrugated sheets and a proper gutter, which have lasted 14 years so far.

 

[Icemaiden]

So what will you grow in the hen run now instead of eggs? Fruit trees or raspberry bushes?

 

[Marigold]

I haven't thought about that yet. The framework is solid so it could possibly be boarded in and windows installed to make a good large shed. But for the time being we have no plans for it, and its not going anywhere!