arrgggggh drainage

[cluckin tractor]

i have had a recent extreme heavy rainfall with it's own minature flood. water drains partly away to one side of the chook shed but today it had to wuch water to drain and is now sitting there and not setteling and draining into the soil. water is right up against the corregated wall and seeping under making it a mess worth not forggeting. can put weelbaroows and wellbarows of dirt in and around the shed which can fix the problem.

can dig a ditch around and to the otherside to the chicken shed into a road drain but running the risk of erroding the drain away and i will have water sitting in the drain when ther is not enough force to push it down and we have children with wheeled toys which may not help with keeping the drain level.

i can get the tractor and get some buckets of dirt and raise the soil on one side to make the water run into drain but that may require alot of dirt.

underground piping is not an option and a ditch could be most usable alternative

can the chickens get a foot infection or anything ?


i cannot jack up the whole bulding as it is no where near possible:/

 

[ScotH]

You might look into creating a 'French drain' (Google it) it might work for you, but it's a good bit of work. The surface ends up with layers of varying sizes of rock atop a porous pipe that takes the water underground to either absorb in the earth or drain elsewhere, but the surface does not look like a typical ditch.

Here is the Wikipedia entry for French Drains: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_drain


Other than that you might want to rent or buy a surface water pump and hoses to move that lake somewhere else.... At least twice a year I really wish I had one here.

.

 

[elmo]

Some good ideas here:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=1642-fix-a-muddy-run


And yes, wet muddy conditions can lead to bumblefoot infections.

 

[cogorman]

I had the same problem and a french drain did the trick. Once installed though you also have to make sure silt from erosion doesn't get into the gravel or over time it plug the system. I know this from experience.

The gravel around the coop and run is the french drain system. You can see the soil in front of the gravel, which was eroding into the gravel. I had to build a small stone retaining wall to stop the erosion. Now it drains like a champ. Just remember "madder than a wet hen" and who wants their hens mad all the time. LOL! Good Luck

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Nice set up cogorman!

I concur with the previous posters, french drains will probably help in your situation. Also, do anything you can to divert the water so that it doesn't run towards the coop.

 

[cluckin tractor]

at the moment i'm sythening the water away with two garden hoses and it is working well with a patch already puddle free over night. should take me the week to get all water away. one the weather warms up i'll raise the dirt floor move things around outside and dig a ditch and put the removed dirt into the pot holes and remove about ten centermeters near the drain for the water to drain away and again put he dirt wher the water converges and i should be able to drain all water away over the next few months. it will take quite a bit of precision digging and filling but a bit every weekend should get me somewhere. the french drain is a good ideal but not the best way for me. i'll make the run so water flow to the sidesand make a slight peakat the center for water flow. my storage area is absolutely bone dry. it is the same as the other half enclosed pens but is literally dust and grass and hay built up over the years. i think the chicken feet carry in moisture and i'll just swap the floor materials over and atempt to find some hay for the floor. now i'll get a few weelbarrows full of dirt and fix the hole

if i fix the problem will bumble foot automacially go away or will it still linger in dry conditions


i can get a pump and we have a few of them but ive got to find them i think we forgot about them and there now under water at the dams we were pumping water from that were almost empty that are now at at full capacaty

 

[cluckin tractor]

fixed it last weekend but he ditch was not deep enough to get rid of a second lot of heavy rain. fixed it nearly but the permanant run is still a muggy mess

 

[elmo]

Quote:
Bumblefoot is an infection on the bottom of a chicken's foot. Think about an ingrown toenail that's gotten infected, only on the bottom of your foot so that every time you take a step you press on that spot. Ouch, eh?

Bumblefoot gets started when the chicken gets a cut or abrasion on its foot and bacteria get inside and start multiplying. Bacteria thrive in wet conditions, which is why keeping the ground in your coop and run as dry as possible is a good idea.

If one of your chickens develops a bumblefoot infection, simply drying the run out won't stop the existing infection. Antibiotics can knock it out usually, and you can try salt water footbaths, etc. There are threads here devoted to bumblefoot treatments.

 

[drunkdog]

Cluckin...if you put a catch basin at the end of your french drain that can be opened then you can once a year stick the end of a garden hose in it and flush any silt or debris from the drain to your outlet....doing so can ensure your french drain many years of operation without clogging...also putting a landscaping screen over the french drain under the gravel will help as well....

 

[cluckin tractor]

so if i do get an infection a salt foot bath is my easiest option as i have a bag of salt in my shed. could i use a sheep footbath stuff as the sheep stuff is required before traveling over affected areas because of foot rot. foot rot is a strict thing over here. could i use it if it has no bad cheimical stuff or should i stick to salt or both. does any one have a picture as my books don't. the water drain is working great and a garden hose is awsome at sythening water away if you set it up all day and night. i was ammazed how much water it could get rid of over night