Over a year ago, we turned half the old goat barn into a henhouse. We then added an extended run to give the chickens a much larger space in which to run around. Last year, it was hot, dry, and sunny so we put shade cloth over the proximal half of the run to give the chickens more shade. This year, we’ve had so much rain that we replaced the shade cloth with a tarp to give the chickens more dry ground to run around on. We’ve also installed a chicken door so that they can free-range in the afternoons.
We’ve now had so much rain — over 110 inches since the start of the year, with only about three dry days since the beginning of April — that the uncovered half of the chicken run was just a muddy, smelly mess. So today we covered the other half of the chicken run with another tarp. It might cut down the light too much and reduce their laying, but if it doesn’t it should make the run a healthier place as there will be much more clean, dry ground.
—2p