How to fix a wet and sloppy chicken run and coop?

    So as this year started it has been very wet here in Georgia.  And in January and February, when it wasn't raining it was either really cold or not sunny so our run and coop would not dry out.  It was really annoying not only for us going to feed and water but for the chickens and turkeys.  So naturally we tried a few different things to try to remedy this problem.  

    Our chicken run and coop area is quite large (24 ft x 32 ft) and could get quite expensive to fix this issue. The first thing we tried was wheat straw.  And with our coop being so big it would take 4 to 5 bales of straw which turned out to be a little bit more expensive than what we wanted. With wheat straw it would soak in the moisture but didn't seem to soak in enough and the smell was not pleasant after it soak up the water.  So naturally we would rake it up and carry it off to our burn pile. 

    The next thing we tried was wood chips (cedar and pine).  Well just like the wheat straw this started racking up the cost of maintenance due to having to buy 4 bags or bales of wood chips.  Now the cedar chips gave off a great aromatic smell for a few days.  And both soaked up the water quite well.  Now the hardest part was the clean up.  It was way harder than cleaning up the wheat straw.  But we were not sure if we should take this off the proverbial chopping block yet.  

    So the final thing we tried happened to come by chance.  We were walking our dog and noticed the area where there were abundance of pine straw was quite dry underneath.  And the next day it looked like the pine straw was dry.  This was our AHA! moment.  So we raked up about 6 wheelbarrows full of pine straw and took it to the coop.  Within two days our coop was dray and the chickens were enjoying scratching under the pine straw.  And this didn't cost us a dime and had better results than the previous two methods.  Along with the pine straw we spread some diatomaceous earth around and even put some in a bin and the chickens and turkeys enjoyed that for dusting in.  

    After a few weeks of trial and error, we decided pine straw was the best for us.  In Georgia, there is an abundance of pine trees so it is very easy to come by.  This turned out to be cost effective and helped to even clean up our yard.  In other areas where pine trees are not abundance I would recommend a different method.  I have read where people put down sand and wheat straw and how that helps but I did not test this method out.  There is always a way to fix a wet and sloppy chicken run area.