Coop Floor, Help!

[PaisChickens17]

I have a dirt floor in my coop and have been apparently doing the deep litter method. Chickens spend most of their time in the coop because of neighbor dogs who have attacked/killed multiple chickens and other animals around my house. (Has ripped chicken wire off of coop to crawl through door). They do have a run I open and let them out to daily. The coop is decent size, 10x10 and was already here when house was bought. When it rains, the dirt tends to get pretty wet under and occasionally the pine shavings have been soaked. I cleaned out all shavings today to get a good clean start over but am wondering what things I should be doing for pest control, keeping it dry, anything I might be missing. I've had them less than a year and want to make sure they are getting the best I can give them. TIA for any suggestions!!

 

[3KillerBs]

Hello and welcome to BYC.

If it were me I'd start with installing electric fence around your property to keep those dogs out and by working on the drainage around your coop to direct water away from it so that it would stay dry.

Do you have pictures of your setup to help us give better advice?

Also, where, in general, are you located? Climate matters.

 

[PaisChickens17]

Hello and welcome to BYC.

If it were me I'd start with installing electric fence around your property to keep those dogs out and by working on the drainage around your coop to direct water away from it so that it would stay dry.

Do you have pictures of your setup to help us give better advice?

Also, where, in general, are you located? Climate matters.

I placed cayenne around the coop/run and I think that helped keep the dog off as I havent seen her in a while. I'm cautious of electric fence simply because of my 4yr old who likes to touch everything, and help get eggs ect. I appreciate that suggestion though!

I'm in south texas and my yard basically becomes a pond when it rains. Not sure if I could do something for drainage that would actually help but definitely open to ideas
We know we need to haul lots of dirt in to raise everything but financially just not feasible right now. I have a pic of the inside, everything is out right now because I'm mid spring cleaning it!

 

[Lauravonsmurf]

I have used bricks to line coop floors in the past. I will be doing again or using pavers on my rebuilding project. This raises the floor and any gaps I put pea gravel the water drains that way. If water gets in or for some reason I decide to use water to clean inside... rare but done sometimes. The brick also prevents critters burrowing under a problem I had in the past. Now I am building to make the pens hard for humans to steal my chickens...

 

[3KillerBs]

A thick layer of coarse wood chips is often recommended for people troubled with mud.

Is it possible to dig diversion ditches to direct water away from the coop and run?

 

[PaisChickens17]

Update: my husband apparently knows someone who brought a whole dump truck of top soil to add into the coop to raise it up a bit!
So question now.. do I need to put anything down before bedding for pest control ect. The new dirt will help keep water out of it.

 

[3KillerBs]

Update: my husband apparently knows someone who brought a whole dump truck of top soil to add into the coop to raise it up a bit!
So question now.. do I need to put anything down before bedding for pest control ect. The new dirt will help keep water out of it.

What kind of pests are you concerned about?

Do you already have a problem or are you worried about possibly developing a problem?

 

[PaisChickens17]

What kind of pests are you concerned about?

Do you already have a problem or are you worried about possibly developing a problem?

Mites, fleas ect., possibly developing a problem would be biggest factor. I'm in south texas so not short on bugs here! I bough some DE but then read a lot of stuff about how bad it is for chickens, so decided against using it.

 

[PaisChickens17]

A thick layer of coarse wood chips is often recommended for people troubled with mud.

Is it possible to dig diversion ditches to direct water away from the coop and run?

We added a couple inches of dirt in there yesterday and I added about 6+ inches of pine shaving flakes. Not sure diversion unless we tracked it all the way to the back of property which is about 3/4 an acre.

 

[3KillerBs]

Mites, fleas ect., possibly developing a problem would be biggest factor. I'm in south texas so not short on bugs here! I bough some DE but then read a lot of stuff about how bad it is for chickens, so decided against using it.

If you don't have a problem already there is no point trying to treat anything -- you'd just be killing the beneficial bugs and the tasty ones that the chickens will want to eat.

DE is a respiratory irritant and is only effective in certain, limited situations.

Not sure diversion unless we tracked it all the way to the back of property which is about 3/4 an acre

I'm talking about a simple ditch uphill of the coop to direct flowing water around it.