Coop sitting on dirt getting damp from all the rain!!!

[urban-chick-mom]

I was gone for 12 days and returned to a coop floor that is damp from all the rain. The coop is sitting on the ground with a hard cloth bottom. I have pine shavings on the floor. The coop is covered but the pine shavings are getting wet, I assume from sitting on the ground. Any suggestions on what to do?
thanks!!!!!!

 

[Pharm Girl]

I actually tried something new this year and put a shower curtain liner down, stapling it on all sides. Then I put a piece of plywood over that as best as I could. Then put about 4 inches of sand and bark chips over that. Everything has been dry so far. The moisture was coming up from under the ground and soaking everything last year. I was horrified to find moldy food and shavings. Luckily I guess I caught it in time. Nobody got sick. It's so hard to keep the wet out in our climate. I'm struggling with the covered run now. It's leaking in a couple of corners, but I can't figure out from where. RRggh.

 

[urban-chick-mom]

Pharm Girl,

My problem is we can't lift the coop up to put anything under it now. It is too heavy! The shower curtain sounds like a great idea though. Didn't even think that the ground would get wet if we had a nice roof over it. Thanks for the suggestions though!

 

[JackE]

Raise it up and set it on concrete blocks. Raise it up one end at a time with a auto floorjack. If you don't have one, maybe you could borrow or rent one. If people can jack up an entire house, You can definently jack up a chicken coop.
Jack

 

[Mavrik]

Nothing is too heavy to lift, houses can be transported.

Your coop should be sitting on bricks or something to prevent rot and termites. However you could build a wood floor on top of ground inside the coop for a quickie fix.

 

[teach1rusl]

Do you think between you and DH you could use a lever (a piece of 2x4 over something as a prybar) just to raise the coop up a few inches, enough to shove/slide one of the thin cinder blocks up under each corner??? If it's raised just a few inches, it would probably help keep the bottom edge of the coop from eventually rotting...
The shower curtain certainly sounds like a quick fix though...

 

[Pharm Girl]

Quote:
Well that was actually my problem too. My coop weighs about a thousand pounds and took hot tub movers to set it in place. It has a hardware cloth skirt around it with paving stones over that, so that sucker is going nowhere! LOL. That is why I climbed inside and stapled the shower curtain to the frame and just set down random pieces of left over plywood on top. They would rip up the liner and possibly ingest it, so the plywood just keeps them from scratching it up.
Good luck!

 

[urban-chick-mom]

Thanks for all the suggestions. Yesterday my DH(otherwise known as Tom) and I raised the coop up on blocks. Bought 6 bags of multi purpose sand and poured that in the coop. Added Stall Dry and then pine shavings. Also, read another post about clear tarp to go around the sides for sideways rain. I think I will add that to 2 sides of the coop leaving room on top edge for ventilation. I am hoping that will work to keep them fairly dry this winter.

 

[Ole rooster]

Sitting on the ground will cause that. wow. It will always act like a sponge on the ground.

Now the coop can be lifter fairly easy. Get a house jack to pick it up. They are used a lot to level a mobile home. Mine has a 2000 lbs lift limit. If you don't have one they can be bought at Harbor Freight or Northern Tool. They will go down to about 3 inches and up to around 3 feet. Just start at one corner. Jack it up about 5 inches, put a block under it and go to the other corner. Keep working around till you have it as high as you want it. Not really that much work.

For sure get it off the ground.

 

[Moogie]

There's a current thread here about great prices on clear (and colored) tarps with free shipping:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=599300
I just ordered one, myself!

Good luck with your coop - it sounds like you've got it under control.