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Anonymous
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mt garden has turned into a swamp!! will it bother my hens over a long winter??? the silkies have a concrete run but the RIR's and bovans are running in the garden (well it was a garden) any sugestions?
you can put down woodbark in some areas but not to much though as it can get mouldy underneath as i found out when i dug it out of my run and i hadnt really noticed just how deep i had gone with it , best thing for you though if you want mud free paths for yourself is to put down slabs for pathways but the best thing all round is to keep the girls in an inclosed run while its wet that has a roof on but thats not conveneint for everyone . i limit the walking space i have within my run unless i am poo picking with slabs and the run is pretty good at the mo .
Lucylou
New member
Mines turning to mud too! Its been lovely all summer but so quickly reverts back to the watery mess of winter :roll: I put a plastic tarpaulin over a section of mine during that bad snow in the winter & apart from a short spell in the summer have left it on as it makes a lovely dry space for them. I was then thinking if the weather or the run gets too bad I could easily make a temporary sectioned area in the dry.Too much mud is not good for their little feet.
Hardwood chippings are the thing to use apparently, not bark, as it mulches down eventually also can encourage mould as karlooben said. Although I've used it for 2 winters, but not too deep, & its been fine with a few slabs in between to walk on.
Hardwood chippings are the thing to use apparently, not bark, as it mulches down eventually also can encourage mould as karlooben said. Although I've used it for 2 winters, but not too deep, & its been fine with a few slabs in between to walk on.
victorias poultry
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Two of my pens became muddy last winter so I put hard bark shavings down, unfortunately they have now rotted down into compost which the warrens love scratching it but is not great news when it rains. In the process of making a few more grassed pens and will leave the bare ones over winter free. It does not seem long since we had snow, how the year is flying (soon be summer again 
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Anonymous
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well since my mud moment i have put down a load of gravel in the worst areas and fenced off an area in the hope some grass will grow back there....then i can put the girls in there....how do you get them to stay out of the rain??? mine just sit there looking miserable 
why dont they go into their coop???
why dont they go into their coop???victorias poultry
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My pekins and orpingtons tend to keep out of the rain but my warrens seem to love it ! they are like children playing in all the muddy puddles 
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Anonymous
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Hi There
Just a word of warning on letting ex batts out in the rain. Since starting with them earlier this year, I reckon I have lost a couple of dozen to the effects of the rain.
If they get a complete soaking, then i know to expect that the next morning there will be one or two of them laid out on the floor unable to get up.
Dont ask me to explain why because I dont know, the vet suspects that the rain is weakening them to such an extent that when during the night, other hens clamber over them, they are too weak and fragile to move and end up suffering from exhaustion.
Yes, I do have plenty of perch space but many of the ex batts refuse to use them. Of the 400 or so that I have, I would say that only about a third of them will use a perch.
I suppose after a life spent in a controlled environment like a Battery House, these ex batts love the rain but they fail to handle the after effects very well and lack the muscular strength to survive in the flock.
Anyway, just an observation.
cheers
steve
Just a word of warning on letting ex batts out in the rain. Since starting with them earlier this year, I reckon I have lost a couple of dozen to the effects of the rain.
If they get a complete soaking, then i know to expect that the next morning there will be one or two of them laid out on the floor unable to get up.
Dont ask me to explain why because I dont know, the vet suspects that the rain is weakening them to such an extent that when during the night, other hens clamber over them, they are too weak and fragile to move and end up suffering from exhaustion.
Yes, I do have plenty of perch space but many of the ex batts refuse to use them. Of the 400 or so that I have, I would say that only about a third of them will use a perch.
I suppose after a life spent in a controlled environment like a Battery House, these ex batts love the rain but they fail to handle the after effects very well and lack the muscular strength to survive in the flock.
Anyway, just an observation.
cheers
steve
my ex batts dont really like the rain but they are happy to play around it in but they also do have plenty of shelters to go under , thing is with ex batts they can and do just drop dead for no apparent reason 05 most are normally very weak anyway due to how they have been kept in the past . the ones i have now have barely any feather to give them full protection and they have been out in the very heavy rain without suffering any probs but like most animals they have the sense to go in somewhere dry .
05 most are normally very weak anyway due to how they have been kept in the past . the ones i have now have barely any feather to give them full protection and they have been out in the very heavy rain without suffering any probs but like most animals they have the sense to go in somewhere dry .victorias poultry
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I hae bought 3 lots of ex batts so far, the "oldest" girls I have had about 18 months now, the "youngest" I have had for around 6 months. All are now fully feathered and look fit and healthy with lovely shiny feathers. Touch wood I have not lost any due to the weather. The girls love staying out in the rain, although their hen houses are about 2ft off the ground and there are plenty of trees they could shelter under, but they tend not to, instead carry on scratching around in the muddly puddles! The only time they tend to shelter is when there is a very cold wind.
:lol: a few of my ex batts are turning into wimps although i think the moult is not helping but nearly everyday for the past week or so some of mine have been huddled up behind the fence panels that are leaning up at the main fence , i had no where to put them for storage so the girls use them as part shelter instead .
