How to Fix a Muddy Chicken Run so it Stays Dry For Good

Key Takeaways

• Mud in a chicken run is cured by dealing with the water before the floor, because chip, sand or straw laid on ground that cannot drain holds the water and turns to slurry within weeks.
• Water gets into a chicken run three ways: rain falling on it, water running in from higher ground, and ground that holds water. Each needs a different fix.
• A chicken run needs a fall of 1 in 80 across its width, which is 12.5mm of drop for every metre, so rain runs to one edge instead of sitting in the middle.
• Water running in from higher ground is stopped with a shallow gravel channel dug across the slope on the uphill side of the run.
• Gravel laid under a run on flat clay does not drain it, because the water has nowhere to go and the gravel simply fills up.
• The best way to avoid a muddy chicken run is to establish it in a higher, drier part of the garden, never the foot of a slope.

I was called out to fix a domestic chicken run because the owner had become frustrated with losing hens to unexpected illnesses. For two winters she had tried straw, bark and then wood chip, and every time the ground waterlogged and the covering sank into the mud. After a spell of rain, I walked the run and looked at the surrounding ground. It was built on heavy clay soil. The lawn sloped towards the enclosure, channelling surface water straight into it, while the coop roof had no guttering, so rainwater was falling directly onto the already saturated ground. Digging down confirmed what I suspected: the clay was further preventing the water from draining away. Rather than simply adding another layer of wood chip, we needed to tackle where the water was coming from. We diverted the surface run-off, added a water butt to collect the roof water and improved the drainage by adding a fall to the run. There was little point spending more money on wood chip until those underlying issues were addressed. Now her hens are happy and healthy, laying tasty eggs for her family.

The fix for a muddy chicken run is the same every time. Find where the water comes from. Give it somewhere else to go. Then lay a floor. This article covers the first two steps, and my chicken run flooring guide covers the rest.

How Do You Fix a Muddy Chicken Run?

A muddy chicken run is fixed in three steps: find where the water comes from, give it somewhere to go, then lay a floor that drains. Most keepers start at step three, which is why the mud usually comes back.

Wood chip, bark, sand and straw all hold water on ground that cannot drain, so they become the mud. So fixing a muddy chicken run is a drainage job first. The good news is that fixing it is usually just a weekend’s work with a spade and a rake.

Where Is the Water in Your Chicken Run Coming From?

Water gets into a chicken run from three places: rain landing on it, water running in from higher ground, and ground that cannot drain. Stand in the run for ten minutes during rain, watch where the water moves and where it stops, then check the table.

Most runs have one or more of these at once, and the fixes below work in order.

How Do You Put a Fall on a Chicken Run for Drainage?

A chicken run needs a fall of 1 in 80 across its width, which is 12.5mm of drop for every metre, so rain runs to one edge instead of sitting in the middle. On a 3m wide run the low side sits just under 40mm below the high side.

1. Pick the low side first. It has to face somewhere safe for the water to go: a border, a lawn that drains, or a gravel channel dug along the low side. Never towards the coop or your neighbour’s garden.
2. Rake off the old surface and the top layer of slop, so you start from ground that is wet rather than liquid.
3. Knock a wooden peg at least 200mm long into the high side until its top sits where you want the finished ground. This is your starting peg.
4. Knock in the next peg 1m away, towards the low side. Lay a 1m straight board from the first peg to the second, with a 12.5mm packer (a scrap of wood that thick) on top of the second peg. Put a spirit level on the board and tap the second peg down until the bubble sits level. Its top is now 12.5mm lower.
5. Carry on every metre to the low side, then start a new row 1m along the run. Set the first peg of each new row level with the first peg of the last row, using the board and level with no packer.
6. Rake the soil a little above the peg tops, then tamp it down hard with a hand tamper (a heavy flat plate on a long handle). If you don’t have one, lay an offcut of board flat on the soil and hit it with a sledgehammer. Treading it in isn’t enough: loose soil sinks after the first heavy rain, and the fall sinks with it. Keep tamping, and add soil to any low spots, until the ground sits level with the peg tops. Lay the board across any two pegs to check the ground between them, then pull the pegs out and fill the holes.
7. If you lay a membrane on clay, run a hose over it before the surface goes on. The water sheets on the membrane, so you see at once whether it runs off or sits in a dip, and a dip takes minutes to fix at that stage.

Good chicken run drainage starts here. No sub-base is needed under chip or sand. For a big area, my guide on how to lay a sub-base shows how to set a fall with string lines.

A chicken run on a slope already sheds its own rain. Peg a 200mm board along the downhill edge, with 50 to 75mm of it below ground, to stop the surface materials sliding. To check the slope, lay the 1m board pointing downhill and hold it level with the spirit level. If the gap under the downhill end is more than about 65mm, the slope is steeper than 1 in 15 and is better terraced into level steps.

How Do You Stop Water Running Into the Run?

Water running into a chicken run from higher ground is stopped with a channel dug across the slope on the uphill side, outside the fence, so the water goes round the coop instead of through it.

Dig it about a spade wide and a spade deep, past each corner, falling at least 1 in 100 (1cm per metre) to somewhere that drains, a ditch or a soakaway at least 5m from the house, and fill it with clean 20mm gravel. Never send it towards your neighbour’s garden or into the foul drain. On clay, send it to a ditch or the lowest part of the garden. A soakaway on clay only works dug wide and shallow, and it still drains slowly. A surface water drain is the other way out, but connecting to one needs the water company’s permission and a professional. That one channel is how to stop a chicken run getting muddy on a sloping garden. For a long slope with a lot of water, a French drain with a pipe in it earns the extra digging. And put a gutter on the coop roof, with the downpipe into the channel, unless you want to store it for the hens.

What If the Ground Won’t Drain at All?

Ground that holds water, which in Britain usually means clay, needs the water carried off the surface, because it will not soak away through the soil. Dig a spade-deep hole, fill it with water and check it the next day: still standing means clay or packed ground.

The mistake I saw most on clay was a layer of gravel dug in under the floor. The water drains into it and stays there, because gravel on clay with no outlet is a tank. A soakaway on clay fills the same way, unless it is dug wide and shallow, as my soakaway guide explains. So how to keep chicken run dry on clay comes down to the fall and the channel to get the water off, and a clear corrugated roof over the end nearest the coop to keep it off. If a roofed run is still boggy, rain is blowing in at the sides, and a clear sheet down the weather side stops it. That dry, roofed end is also the place for the hens’ dust bath, and my guide on how to make a dust bath for chickens shows what to fill it with. Also, don’t try to improve the soil by digging compost into a waterlogged run, either. Organic matter in soil that cannot drain just rots.

Where Is the Best Place to Put a Chicken Run?

The best place for a chicken run is the higher, drier part of the garden, never the foot of a slope, where water and cold air settle. How high is high enough? Higher than wherever water lies in your garden after heavy rain, and that’s your read rather than a measurement. After a wet day, note where the puddles sit, where the lawn squelches, and where moss, rushes or buttercups grow thickest. Those are the wet spots, and the run goes anywhere else.

Then check the spot itself. Dig a hole a spade deep, fill it with water and come back the next day. Empty means the ground drains. Still full means clay or packed ground, and the fall and the channel go in before the run does. The ground inside the run should also sit above the ground around it, so the fall carries water off and nothing runs in from outside.

When you choose where to put a chicken coop, turn its back to the prevailing south-westerly wind so rain doesn’t blow through the pop hole.

Next Steps

A muddy chicken run is a water problem first. Find where the water comes from, give the run a 1 in 80 fall, catch anything coming downhill with a channel, and roof the coop end on clay. Then lay 100mm of hardwood chip and the run stays dry through a British winter.

We sell Chicken Run Hardwood Chips from 70L bags up to bulk bags, and the heavy duty weed membrane for a run on clay, once the fall is in, where the hens dig mud up through the chip, all delivered nationwide. Put your run’s size into the wood chip and bark calculator to find out exactly how much you need and get an instant price estimate. If you would like to talk with us, call Outdoor Aggregates on 0330 043 7585. The office is open 7am to 7pm, seven days a week.

Have you ever dug a fall or a channel to dry out a muddy chicken run? Which way did you send the water, and did the run stay dry through the winter? We’d be glad to hear how it went.

FAQs

What do you put in a muddy chicken run?

A fall and a channel are what to put in a muddy chicken run first, and only then 100mm of seasoned hardwood chip. Chip, sand or straw laid straight onto mud soaks up the water and joins the problem within weeks.

How do I stop my chicken run getting muddy in winter?

A chicken run stays dry in winter when the water has somewhere to go: a 1 in 80 fall, a channel on the uphill side, and a roof over the end nearest the coop. Top the chip up before the wet weather starts.

Does gravel stop a chicken run getting muddy?

Gravel under a chicken run only drains if the water can leave it, through a channel at its low edge or a pipe out. On flat clay a gravel layer fills up and holds the water, so the floor on top stays as wet as before.