We were fairly hard-hit by the several recent storm lines that hit in succession this past week -- not so much in terms of wind, at least on our property (I know some people who lost trees), but with rain. According to the nearest weather station, 14 miles north, we've had 4.27" in the past 7 days, 3" of which fell in less than 48 hours.
Naturally, I'm analyzing what's going on with the coop.
The run is a mess. All the new pinestraw we'd put in has washed downslope since it hadn't had time to settle. That will dry and there's plenty more pinestraw to work with after it's had a couple days of sun. One of the great things about pine straw is how fast it dries on top after even this kind of rainfall.
The interior bedding is also damp, the rain having overwhelmed even our super-sandy, overly-well-drained soil's ability to cope. It seems to run in from the uphill side -- perhaps because the coop roof has changed the drainage pattern. We may need to add a gutter, which is annoying because we didn't plan for gutter in the design.
I only had about 3" of bedding in there so far -- partially because the minor injuries from the car wreck impeded my ability to use the mower and the lawn sweeper and partially because I was intentionally adding it in thin layers. But there is no odor beyond a clean, damp-earth smell. The wood chip pile is also sodden wet, but I'll add more as it dries.
Given the extreme airflow of this design, I expect it to dry out rapidly, but I'll keep an eye on it.
We got into the mid 20's(F), last night and will dip below freezing again briefly tonight. There was frost in the run, but no frost in the coop. The chickens are fine.
They have places where they can get up off the wet ground and I'll go out later to add some more random logs, etc. once the sun and the drainage have had a chance to make it a bit less squishy.
Fortunately, I'm off 4 days in a row to do the work.
Naturally, I'm analyzing what's going on with the coop.
The run is a mess. All the new pinestraw we'd put in has washed downslope since it hadn't had time to settle. That will dry and there's plenty more pinestraw to work with after it's had a couple days of sun. One of the great things about pine straw is how fast it dries on top after even this kind of rainfall.
The interior bedding is also damp, the rain having overwhelmed even our super-sandy, overly-well-drained soil's ability to cope. It seems to run in from the uphill side -- perhaps because the coop roof has changed the drainage pattern. We may need to add a gutter, which is annoying because we didn't plan for gutter in the design.
I only had about 3" of bedding in there so far -- partially because the minor injuries from the car wreck impeded my ability to use the mower and the lawn sweeper and partially because I was intentionally adding it in thin layers. But there is no odor beyond a clean, damp-earth smell. The wood chip pile is also sodden wet, but I'll add more as it dries.
Given the extreme airflow of this design, I expect it to dry out rapidly, but I'll keep an eye on it.
We got into the mid 20's(F), last night and will dip below freezing again briefly tonight. There was frost in the run, but no frost in the coop. The chickens are fine.
They have places where they can get up off the wet ground and I'll go out later to add some more random logs, etc. once the sun and the drainage have had a chance to make it a bit less squishy.
Fortunately, I'm off 4 days in a row to do the work.
cold!
