Controlling dust- Coop under deck

[Kaitie09]

As the title says, we have a coop under our deck. I'm wondering if there are any ideas for keeping the dust from traveling up to the covered deck area. I knew there would be dust, but didn't think about it traveling up 10+ft and then settling on the vinyl siding of the house. Their run is completely dry, which is good for me/them, bad for dust. The coop has a roof and I do notice a difference in dust between over the coop vs the run.

Trying to think of some ideas about ways to prevent (some) the dust from rising. Would a ceiling help? I'm thinking the answer will be different bedding in the run. Something that is a bit heavier than the loose dirt currently in there.

Pic of when coop/run was being built.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Deep litter might work for you. All bedding I have use is dusty.

Good luck!

 

[paneubert]

Hello fellow "under the deck" person. When you say "run", is the run that area under the deck as well? Where I see someone sitting?

 

[Kaitie09]

Hello fellow "under the deck" person. When you say "run", is the run that area under the deck as well? Where I see someone sitting?

That is correct, the coop is the tan lean-to in the right of the photo. The run is the screened in area.

 

[paneubert]

I would put a roof under the deck. Assuming there is still clearance for you to stand in there after roof install. I have a love/hate relationship with my roof under my deck.....so....maybe you can avoid my problems or improve on how I did it. Main problem I have is that all the attachment has to be done from "below". Also brings up the issue of "where does the water go". Unless you extend your roof outside of the existing deck and run walls (possibly making it less predator proof), you will have water running down the walls of your run, into the border of the run. Here is my build thread. Well....sort of my version 2 when I went from quail to chickens. I could dig up the original build thread if it would help you.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...n-aviary-to-a-good-for-chickens-coop.1241025/

I don't experience any dust coming up thru the deck, but the roofing panels are dirty. So it would seem something similar could work for you.

 

[paneubert]

Something I don't mention in that thread (or maybe I talk about it later) is that I have all my roof panels slanting to one end of what for you is the run (in my case it is the coop), then running down one final panel perpendicular to the rest, draining into one extreme corner. That way I can manage the rain water in one small area. If you get deep into my conversion thread, you can see that I then used another roofing panel to run the water down the OUTSIDE of that roofing panel, up against my hardware cloth wall. So the runoff is still technically inside the predator proof hardware cloth wall, but it is as close to the outside as possible. And still in just one extreme corner of the structure. Maybe you could do one better and use some form of a gutter system to collect and then dispose of the rain water that will collect from the roof.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Attach garden fabric (weed stop) to underside of deck. Its breathable, so wont sweat, but should block dust

 

[paneubert]

Attach garden fabric (weed stop) to underside of deck. Its breathable, so wont sweat, but should block dust

I like this idea better than mine. Haha. @Kaitie09 , you say the run stays dry already? Does rain not drip between the deck boards? My only worry with using weed fabric is that it may sag when wet, and will slowly gather crap on top of it from the deck above. May simply mean you need to remove and replace the weed fabric annually or something. Not a huge deal since it is cheap.

I had to make a solid roof for mine since it is the coop for me.

 

[Kaitie09]

I like this idea better than mine. Haha. @Kaitie09 , you say the run stays dry already? Does rain not drip between the deck boards? My only worry with using weed fabric is that it may sag when wet, and will slowly gather crap on top of it from the deck above. May simply mean you need to remove and replace the weed fabric annually or something. Not a huge deal since it is cheap.

I had to make a solid roof for mine since it is the coop for me.

I'll definitely try the garden fabric first! The deck above is a covered porch and the roof overhangs about a foot, and there's a gutter on the roof. I have about a 16in clearance from the run walls to where rain hits the ground. The only time rain gets in the run is if it's blowing at a really weird angle.

Our front door is directly above the coop, and I love the fact that it doesn't smell (because it is so dry). Most people don't even realize we have chickens unless one is freaking out.

 

[Kaitie09]

I just realized I don't have any pictures of the front of the house, all I have is one taken when it was still on the market. For reference, the chicken coop and run are now under the covered deck on the righthand side of the photo.