Coop Drainage Ideas

[thomasboyle]

My run has 6 inches of sand and is covered by a roof, so up until recently I never had any drainage issues. Then I added a pop door from my Pekin coop into the run, and let my 7 Pekin ducks into the run with my chickens and mallards. The Pekins proceeded to drain my three 5 gallon waterers onto the ground, and after a few days of repeating this routine, my sand floor was a swamp with standing water in the low spots. With winter coming on, I knew I needed to find a solution or I would have major ice problems in a month or two.

So I decided to add a drainage system to the coop, and build catch basins for each of the 3 waterers and the two open bathing bowls. The basins are built with 2x6 walls and galvanized steel bottoms that are V shaped with a 1.5" PVC drain pipe at the bottom of the V which drains the water from the catch basin and takes the water outside the run. The catch basins are filled with large river rocks, and the waterers are placed on an octagon paver for a little extra height, So far so good, my sand is dry again, and the water now drains outside the coop.

It took me a few hours to build the 5 catch basins, and 3 hours to install them. Hoping this may inspire anyone who has drainage problems, and wants their coop to have better drainage than their house!

 

[aart]

Nice!!!! ! ! !

Will they still drain when it's freezing out?
How do you accommodate ducks need for deep water in the winter?

 

[thomasboyle]

In the winter I plan to flush them out with hot water to keep them from freezing solid. Right now I flush them out once a week to clear out any dirt and keep the stones unclogged. The bowls hold 3 gallons each, and I keep them full in the winter too. The kiddie pool, which is outside the coop / run area gets put away once the freezing temps get here, but I bring it out on a Saturday in the winter if it is above freezing so they can have swim time every now and then. Last year the Pekins stayed pretty much in their coop during the winter, this year they will have access to the run.

 

[aart]

Looks like you have a pretty good slope on the pipes.
Please do update this thread over the winter to show how well they work out.

Just had a thought, might (or might not) be a good idea.....some kind of basket that would fit above the metal V pans to hold the stones for easy removal.
Might make it easier to clean the stones in the winter and give you easier access to the pipe and V pan if needed.
Just a thought, sometimes I think too much ;-)

 

[Blooie]

Boy, this idea should also be posted over in the DIY department!! Looks great!

 

[tntchix]

Wow, good work there.

 

[aart]

Boy, this idea should also be posted over in the DIY department!! Looks great!

For sure....You'd likely win the DIY Contest thread.

ETA:to fix link

 

[thomasboyle]

I like the basket idea. I'll have to figure out if I can make something strong enough to hold 100 lbs of rocks, as each basin contains 10 shovel loads of rocks. They are 24x24x5. Used more rocks than I was expecting!

I sloped both the catch basins and pipes toward the exit hole so each basin drains fully and automatically.

 

[Homie Ducks]

It's awesome for ducks because they love to splash the water.
Chickens don't play with water but your idea is brilliant Good work.

 

[BlessedCountry6]

This is awesome! Nice work. I will be showing my hubby this!