With winter on the way we wanted to make sure that the chickens didn’t suffer the same fate as last year, when they managed to churn up the earth in the bottom of their run until it was not much better than a boggy swamp.
Poor things – it was up to their chickeny knees, if they have such things, and every time they jumped off the bottom rung of their ladder they would sink into it. It got in their feathers and all over their beaks as they tried to clean it off. Not at all nice for them or us.
So when we saw B&Q selling tarpaulin for £3 a sheet, complete with ringlets every metre along each side we grabbed a couple to make them a new roof.
I think the result is pretty good.
We’ve tied it on using wire twists that we more often use to support the tomatoes on their canes in the greenhouse, and tied each ring in three directions to stop it flapping about in the wind.
It does make it a little darker earlier in the evening, but at least they weren’t spooked by it. I hope they appreciate the difference it should make to the floor of their run – and the amount of dry soil it should give them right through winter for dust bathing.
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Backyard Chickens also has a great article on how to fix muddy runs. Had to use their advice, as our chicken pen was soaked due to recent rains…
http://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=1642-fix-a-muddy-run