swimming chickens

[karminski]

my god we have had nearly 3 days non stop rain and the runs are under water yet again :evil: :evil: if i cant get the runs roofed by next winter then i think i will give up on keeping them its driven me crazy now .
i have one new run waiting to be roofed and it looks like it will be along wait and i still need to take of a few sheets from the bantams run and shuffle them along a few inches but cant even get that done ohh i am one depressed poultry keeper at the mo .

 

[chrismahon]

Guess you need drainage trenches Karminski. All our runs have a slight slope so it drains away -not deliberately, just where we ended up. Problem is the roof needs to drain away from the runs and away somewhere. Otherwise it just drains to the side and comes into the runs.

 

[valeriebutterley]

Cheer up K.,
My big open run is again about 6" deep in mud, BUT they have great dry huts and bedding though.
They cannot mind the rain too much, as they hardly ever seem to shelter from it, just trot around looking bedraggled, and dry out quite happily overnight, thank G the cold has gone at the moment.
If you have ever seen a totally saturated Croad Langshan, you have seen a truly bedraggled chick!
I feel so sorry for them, and try to make up for the weather with visits and lots of treats, mixed corn and meal worms go down very well.
The rain cannot go on for much longer, surely?...............................

 

[karminski]

watched the weaather report tonight and they are saying its in for at least 2 more days and tomorrow is meant to be worse then today with heavier thunderstorms an rain the allotment tracks leading to the girls are over 2 inches deep of water and its so slippery even the slabs in the run are floating , mum has offered to order me the new roofing sheets in but i cant put them up until the ground is dry so no point in odering them just yet but when they are in and up then thats 5 more birds moved and into the dry .
i know the birds dont really mind the wet ground its just me i cant seem to stand it any more or am i just getting old :lol: :lol: but what bugs me the most is the ground just drys out nice to start getting things done then it has to rain .
dont know where you are valerie but we had it drop to minus 5 during last night literlly within an hour of it stopping raining omggggggg it took 3 attempts to get into the car with luke warm water around the door frame then a futher 10 mins defrosting the inside of the windowscreen how that got frozen i dont know it was madness this morning the wheelie bins were frozen shut and even someone at my works said the same thing thing is i let my dogs out at about 2am and nothing was frozen then but at 4,30 am it was a different story really makes me wander what summer is going to be like .

 

[valeriebutterley]

Hello K.,
I did not think it was as cold as it actually was yesterday at 6.00am.
When I went to let the girls out, it was so cold, my finger stuck to the frame of the door, the door was frozen.
I'm in Camberley, but the weather at the moment is like something from very far North.

 

[Margaid]

I'm south of Shrewsbury and we had three inches of snow Saturday evening - not fun as the roads weren't gritted and I had to go out as was singing in a concert. The chooks just stood around looking at it! Went to Darbrowneggs to collect my Cream Legbars and the weather was beautiful when I got there, and no sign of any snow.

 

[karminski]

amazing the difference in weather in some areas , today it hasnt rained but its going to be a while before it drys nice again though but as long as its for the easter weekend plan on roofing the new run then

 

[Icemaiden]

Karminski. Are your hens ice-skating now? Maybe in the damp you could try growing watercress? ;-)

 

[karminski]

its drying up now thankfully only have one boggy area , i dont need it to rain my roofing sheets come in today and i want to get the roof done the weekend and get the favs under shelter and out of the mud but i think that banties may never talk to me again though once the favs are in thier new run as its attached to the bantiesrun and every day i let them in there for 30 mins before bed and omggggggggggg they love the area playing digging doing whatever in the soil but they wont be able to do it after next week unless the favs let them in there but i doubt it .