Wet chicken run, flooding and heavy rainfall

[aart]

Sounds like you could use a truckload of arborist wood chip mulch. Add it in nice and deep, and the chicken run will elevate above the water table; over time the organics and added presence of worms will further loosen the soil to help drainage - but mainly it's the elevation above the water you want. There are pics on this site of chicken runs using deep litter, surrounded by flood waters and the chickens are dry

I agree, but I don't think that's readily available in the UK.

 

[Shadrach]

I agree, but I don't think that's readily available in the UK.

You can get decent hardwood woodchip in the UK but it costs money whereas mulch is often free.

 

[aart]

You can get decent hardwood woodchip in the UK but it costs money whereas mulch is often free.

So what kind of wood is "mulch"?
The wood chippings we(in the US) are talking about are from tree trimmers chipping up what ever they are trimming, could be soft or hardwoods. And it's most often free.

 

[rosemarythyme]

There are pics on this site of chicken runs using deep litter, surrounded by flood waters and the chickens are dry

I'll contribute a couple photos here, with the caveat that our drainage is excellent under normal conditions. This is just straight up flooding.

This was 24 hours later. Still very soggy but you can see how much more water is on the lawn and walkway behind the run.

 

[Muser]

Sounds like you could use a truckload of arborist wood chip mulch. Add it in nice and deep, and the chicken run will elevate above the water table; over time the organics and added presence of worms will further loosen the soil to help drainage - but mainly it's the elevation above the water you want. There are pics on this site of chicken runs using deep litter, surrounded by flood waters and the chickens are dry

That's a good idea to build up the space, I will try and elevate the run. I think it's the clay we have under the soil that stops alot of the drainage when it rains heavy, so yeah, this layer might work really well and I could just pack it where the run and water collects to level out the garden a bit.

Thanks for your response

 

[Muser]

We do seem to have had a lot on a regular basis.

Oh it makes me annoyed haha. Like give us a bit of a summer please? No? Ok then, straight to Winter it is. Lol

 

[Muser]

I agree, but I don't think that's readily available in the UK.

Is it not? Booo. Ok I wonder if wood flakes/chips for horse bedding would be the same thing? Pine smelling too so it's nice.

 

[Muser]

I'll contribute a couple photos here, with the caveat that our drainage is excellent under normal conditions. This is just straight up flooding.
View attachment 3967407

This was 24 hours later. Still very soggy but you can see how much more water is on the lawn and walkway behind the run. View attachment 3967406

Oh my gosh, that's so much rain, it's made chicken island! But as least they are high and dry good job!

 

[rosemarythyme]

Ok I wonder if wood flakes/chips for horse bedding would be the same thing?

How big are the flakes/chips vs mulch in your area? Ideally you want some chunky pieces mixed in as that allows for aeration and drainage, like standing on a large log over boggy ground vs standing on a narrow branch. Aart has a good close up photo, but here's an example from my set up after I added a new layer of chips (standard size birds for comparison), so you can see the varied sizes of the pieces mixed in.

 

[aart]

Is it not? Booo. Ok I wonder if wood flakes/chips for horse bedding would be the same thing? Pine smelling too so it's nice.

It's much coarser than than the flakes.

And comes in big dump truck loads(2 loads here):