Practical Poultry Magazine No.118 Snow White Eggs Back Issue

I don’t know how things are where you live but, around here in rural East Sussex, the ground is still
extremely wet. I was amazed the other day, following one night of heavy rain, to see quite significant
flooding in a nearby valley. This was surprising given how relatively dry and warm our summer was here. Thinking back, I seem to recall weeks passing without much rain during July and August, accompanied by temperatures which were, at times, high enough to make sleeping at night diffi cult.
The knock-on effect of this – around here at any rate – is that conditions in poultry pens are likely to deteriorate more quickly than usual, if the ground is actually as sodden as it appears to be. Here we’re lucky enough to have quite a bit of space for the birds, and so the burden on the grass cover is never that great. Despite this, there were times last winter when we were virtually down to mud in the ‘busiest‘ areas of the enclosures, and we got quite close to re-locating the houses as a result. So, it’ll be interesting to see how the grass holds up this time, especially after the apparently wetter start. Mud in the poultry pen is never welcome; it just makes so much more work. All the extra dirt and moisture that the birds carry into their houses puts added strain on the performance of the floor litter and this, in turn, necessitates more frequent cleaning-out to guard against the creation of a damp atmosphere and the development of potentially harmful mould. Still, I guess this is all part of the rich tapestry of life with chickens! No two seasons are the same and it’s this continual variation
which helps maintain the interest levels for everyone involved in this fascinating hobby.