Mud, Mud, Mud
January 18th, 2010For the first time in a long time, our weather has been above freezing for a few days. As much as we’ve enjoyed the warm up, the melting snow and additional rain has left this entire area a huge mud bowl. Our yard is no different. In some ways, it may be worse. Certainly the chicken run is a completely muddy mess.
I was visiting Sparrow Haven Blog yesterday and reading her description of things she now wishes she had done differently when building her chicken coop. I’m sure anyone that has built a coop can look back and list things they wish they had done differently. If I knew then what I know now? Well, the Chicken Coop DeVille would barely resemble itself! But one of the things that Sparrow Haven mentioned that is near and dear to my heart as of late, is that she wishes she had built some sort of platform leading into the coop so that she wouldn’t get so muddy when it’s wet. Lordy, Lordy, Lordy. I can SO relate to THAT!
Even though my chickens free range, they have a fenced in and covered chicken run outside their coop. And they make certain not one single blade of grass grows in there. It is completely void of vegetation. And I quite frankly could not care less…… except when it rains or snows. I have to walk through the run to feed and water the chickens, and to get inside the coop. And when it’s wet outside, I sink to my ankles in mud and muck. And it makes me pretty unhappy.
So reading Sparrow Haven yesterday led me to really consider what I could do to avoid walking in mud and muck. After participating in Freezer Camp day, I do not dare ask Bernie to do one more thing concerning chickens for a while. So it had to be something I could do by myself. And it had to be fairly easy, because my construction skills are rather limited. And then it dawned on me!
Several years ago, we picked up a bunch of brick pavers from someone giving them away on Freecycle. We picked up hundreds of them and stacked them behind the sea container. Maybe I could make a sidewalk out of those pavers!
I mentioned my sidewalk idea to Bernie, and he thought it sounded like a good plan. So this morning, I laid the brick pavers, and now I have a sidewalk in the chicken run. YAY!
I’d never done anything like this before, but I got the hang of it fairly quickly. Look at my fancy work of curving the sidewalk to the gate.
I even put sand between the joints of the pavers, like I knew what I was doing.
This was just for the chicken coop, so I didn’t frame it in and do it the absolutely proper way, but I am quite pleased with how it turned out. The chickens? Well, they still are not quite sure what to make of it. They stood around fussing about it for a while, and finally Bobby Lee took the plunge and walked on the sidewalk to get inside the run.
The others eventually followed.
I am just so tickled to have a sidewalk that will keep me out of the mud in the chicken run! And even though I shoveled, laid pavers, and swept in sand, Bernie was a big help to me. The pavers were all frozen together where we had stacked them! So he used a rubber mallet and broke them apart - and then he spent a lot of time helping me move what I needed up to the run, and then breaking off the ice that remained on them.
Thank you, sweet Bernie. I know you are totally chickened out right about now. I appreciate your help, and lack of complaining, more than you know 
And even though Duke was trying to act all cool and uninterested, you can tell he’s pretty impressed with the great job I did.
Tags: chicken run sidewalk
January 18th, 2010 at 4:31 pm
I can hear Duke saying, “That is one sweet sidewalk!” But do be careful if those pavers start moving around due to their squishy muddy base. Little bastards will jump up and trip you!
January 18th, 2010 at 4:48 pm
Wow, Penny, what a great job you did on the sidewalk! Way to go. You are woman….I hear you roaring!
January 18th, 2010 at 6:01 pm
Great job on the sidewalk! It looks very impressive. Definitely should help with the mud problem.
January 18th, 2010 at 6:46 pm
Wow, Penny it looks great! Did you have to dig dirt out and level the ground before laying the pavers?
January 18th, 2010 at 6:47 pm
Good it posted… I tried to post a comment to your last blog the other day and it wouldn’t let me. Take Care! Love Ya!
January 18th, 2010 at 6:54 pm
Thanks, everyone! Julie - I did dig out and try to level the areas where I laid the pavers. I didn’t do the world’s best job though. But the sidewalk is fairly level, and pretty solid when I walk on it.
January 18th, 2010 at 7:26 pm
The walkway turned out beautiful! I’m hoping to do the same this spring. That’s funny that the chickens didn’t know what to think of it. Chickens sure don’t like change!!
-Staci
January 18th, 2010 at 7:36 pm
Wow that sidewalk looks pretty awesome. I have the same problem in my runs also. I feel so bad for my chickens to walk around sometimes ankle deep in the mud. Even though they don’t seem to bothered by it. I am afraid that PETA will come and I will be in trouble for letting them live in such a horrible condition. We have tried and it stays like it. So this spring/summer we are gonna bring in lots and lots of topsoil to help it from being so low.
Again Fantastic job on the sidewalk. You sure have lots and lots of talent.
Love Duke, he looks marvelous.
xoxoxoxo
January 19th, 2010 at 12:39 am
Mud,mud, mud….I have a baby duck book that I read to the little guy that says that. Mud, mud, mud…..
That looks like the yellow brick road….only in red. You did an amazing job! It looks so good. And I bet it is so much better than being sucked in by all the mud, mud, mud. And that Bernie. Such a helpful guy.
But what I really wanna know is…whats a sea container? Did you get it from the sea? And what does it contain?
January 19th, 2010 at 12:00 pm
Awesome job, Penny. The sidewalk looks great.
January 19th, 2010 at 1:25 pm
Great job, Looks great.
Should have called me I could have helped,
I know how to lay pavers big time now, LOL
January 19th, 2010 at 4:24 pm
Jocelyn - Amazingly, the pavers are fairly stable! I did dig out the area I sat them in, so maybe that helped? Most likely it’s because the danged ground is actually still frozen! I’ll have to be extra careful when the weather warms and the ground thaws…..
Lilla - ROOOOOAAAAAARRRRRR!!!! I do feel pretty danged powerful right now
SVB - So far so good! I’ve just been tickled to death to not get muddy every time I’ve entered the coop today!
Julie - Hey, will you send me an email and tell me what was happening when you tried to post a comment and it wouldn’t let you? Love ya!
Lisa - Awww, thank you. My chicken yard is still a mess - I’ve just got a less messy area to walk now
And Duke is hanging in there - he’s actually sweeter than he’s ever been!
Staci - Chickens really do NOT like change! It’s actually funny to watch them when I do something different in the coop or their run. Yesterday they would barely touch the edge of the walk as they ran to/from the run, and today they are all over it. Silly things!
Marcee - Awwww, that book sounds so cute. And muddy. Does the Little Guy like it? Bernie *snorted* at your comment and then he said “She always asks those kinds of questions”…… This describes a sea container pretty well http://www.kellysuts.com/?title=Removals+by+Sea&category_id=569 The section titled “FCL (means full container load)” describes what we have. Ours is the 40 footer. I’m sure you’ve seen them on the highway - 18 wheelers pick them up at the dock and then move them to where they need to go. They are weather proof and perfect for storage - which is what we use ours for.
Kitaye - thank you! And thank you for the motivational post that got me moving with it!
Charlotte - I forgot about all those pavers you laid!!! Dang! But I didn’t have nearly as many to put down as you did. Whew!
January 19th, 2010 at 9:27 pm
Handsomest ‘chicken walk’ I’ve ever seen! Good job, Penny.
January 20th, 2010 at 10:25 pm
Wow I’m impressed! And I’m laughing that the chickens are a little freaked out by it.
January 21st, 2010 at 1:45 pm
wow!! you did a great job! love to see you tackle a job and finish it completely off… sometimes that is very hard to do. How long did it take to complete it??
January 21st, 2010 at 4:04 pm
Isn’t it funny what chickens the chickens are at every little new thing? Mine always look like the new thing (snow, fresh hay, apple branches, whatever) is going to JUMP up and eat them.
Your path is beautiful! Nice work, you! I’m not nearly so talented - I went to my local feed store and had them give me a wooden pallet that I put in front of the coop door like a front porch. The stairs down to the coop are a muddy, drippy mess!
And look at handsome Duke standing there in the sun admiring your work. He’s so my favorite.
January 21st, 2010 at 7:10 pm
Cotton Lady - Awwww. Thank you! I really am happy with it.
Nicole - Silly chickens. They do NOT like change!
Tereza - Thank you. It took about 5 hours from start to finish. I guess I’m lucky it was really wet, as digging it all out was A LOT easier. But it was messy…. and the ground was frozen about 2 inches beneath all the muck….
Farmgirl - Thank you, Danni! And I always get tickled at those chickens being so chicken when it comes to something new! I bet the wooden pallet works just fine. The truth is that even my sparkling new sidewalk is a mess tongiht with all the ice and goop we’re getting….. And Duke is my special boy for sure. He’s been such a good roo. I can’t help but spoil him now that he’s stepped back….. such a good boy.