As it turns out the theory that the dirty coop litter would slow down storm water was actually pretty accurate. The problem was that the "Berm of Brilliance" was more like a 10' x 20' sponge right over the walkway. Storm water runoff was still a problem but a much slower problem - instead of fast water cutting channels through the barnyard and carrying silt out into the driveway, I had a thick toxic batter that just kept getting deeper every time it rained.
Just getting from one coop to the next was a major nightmare. Scraps of lumber became stepping stones until I was able to lay out sheets of cardboard. That lasted all of maybe two days. The cardboard sank. The scraps of lumber sank. If I stepped off whatever slippery, precarious perch I was able to find, I sank....like up to my knees. It was bad and only getting worse because it just kept raining.
Eventually I was able to get close enough to the "Berm of Brilliance" to place to throw down some straw and grass seed and to cover it up with pallets. To keep things interesting Mother Nature threw some more rain and snow and even nights below freezing well into May. Instead of coop cleaning, I had to focus on just creating a way to *get* to the coops. (I had a pile of shipping crate dregs with really long, menacing nails sticking out one side. I pounded them into the ground as stepping stones. All things considered, they look pretty good!)
