Mud Hens
We were told that no matter how large your chicken run is, the chickens will eventually destroy every living thing on the ground and it will become bare dirt. To our credit, it did take them most of the summer and fall to achieve this. But now, the chicken run could easily be mistaken for a pig pen.
Winter weather is upon us, and soon the calendar will match. The chicken run has become hard packed dirt. Except where its soft, gooey mud instead. Which, of course, is the area between the gate and the coop. That, coincidentally, is also the area most frequently visited by people, because that’s where we walk through to collect eggs and feed and water the chickens.
Ramshackle shed. It should fall in on itself soon....
About a month ago, when the first of the soaking fall rains fell on the grass-less coop, Andy dug out some stepping stones from behind the ramshackle shed and laid them out in a path from the gate to the coop’s nesting boxes. Brilliant! No more tiptoeing through the mud, anxiously trying to avoid splatter and face planting at the same time! The chickens think the stepping stones are brilliant too. There are obvious signs that they spend significant amounts of time on the stones. I’m not sure which is more slippery: mud or chicken poo.
Our chicken waterer is basic at best. It’s an off-the shelf inverted container over a red tray gravity feed system. Why are all the chicken feeders red, anyway? I digress. Fall rains and mud season meant that every time it rained, the mud would splash up into the water tray, making a bigger mess. I located a larger patio stone behind the ramshackle shed to put the waterer on. Problem solved! Sorta. It still gets muddy. But I now suspect the chickens are cleaning up in the thing or something. At least it takes a bit longer to get really muddy.
The pig, I mean, chicken pen.
We now collect a fair number of muddy eggs. Egg collection is a timing game. If you check too early, there won’t be anything, or you’ll have to check multiple times. It’s muddy in there! I want to limit my trips! If you wait too long, the chickens will have walked back in and stood or sat on the eggs, covering them in mud. Freshly laid eggs in a clean coop are beautifully free of mud, chicken poo, and mostly just need to have a little bit of bedding knocked off. Muddy eggs are, well, you’re never entirely sure if it’s just mud….
Yesterday I noticed for the first time that the chickens have managed to get mud on their neck feathers. I have no explanation for that one. And I am NOT giving those birds a bath.
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