Coops and Rain..HELP!

[leslielbk]

I also live in central Florida, and by ground I mean it was grass and now it isn't. Its currently very wet post-grass ground.

Get the pellets!!!! Especially since it's on the ground and muddy. I don't know where you are or where you get your supplies from (Tractor Supply, feed store, etc.), but they'll carry it. Horse pellet bedding is compressed pine and pretty awesome for those of us drowning right now. If you can, run an extension cord out there and run a fan to dry it out if you can. Hurricane season promises to be worse than last year....dear God.
Planning ahead then, configure a way to drain water away from the base of your coop. If it's low, and water runs toward it, dig small ditches running away from the base, like spokes of a wheel, or dig out around it like a moat - or both! Several feet away, not right up next to it. The water has to have a better place to go than into your coop. The idea is to artificially elevate the base of the coop. If water is splashing up on and into the coop when the rain hits the ground, put straw around it.
If you've got screen/windows for ventilation, I bought thick clear plastic sheeting from Hobby Lobby and cut covers to put up over mine. I was out there a lot last season in a full blown storm putting them up. It helps a lot with the sideways rain. That's what got me last year. When Irma came I covered the entire coop with a tarp and held it down with 5 gallon paint cans. Desperation and all that.

 

[ChickensRollHard]

Get the pellets!!!! Especially since it's on the ground and muddy. I don't know where you are or where you get your supplies from, but horse pellet bedding is compressed pine and pretty awesome for those of us drowning right now. Hurricane season promises to be worse than last year....dear God.

Arcadia, Bryans feed store. I didn't think about hurricane season either. I don't know what to do about that.. I'm going to look into the pellets, and pallets. I can get all the pallets and lumber I need from work.

 

[ChickNanny13]

I'm in Hilo (HI) the wet side = rain, humidity & winds. A BYC Member that had lived here & knowing our weather recommended going DLM, I had been researching sand and so glad I went DLM. Enclosure is dirt ground with wood shavings which I add mowed grass to and more shavings when it gets "low". I also built up my sides to about 4" although 6" was recommended. My Enclosure (8x12x7) with metal roofing, wrapped in chicken wire...My residential yard is fenced and we don't have the predator issues you all have. I then hung EMT for a rod, hanging shower curtains (overlapping) that I tie shut when the winds really pick up. It's worked great so far ....

However there is a section about a foot wide that wicks water when it rains for days on end, I'd rake the shavings to one side. I'm thinking I'm going to try those horse pellets, have a friend that's use it in her brooders, it absorbs moisture and can be dried out and/or tossed into the garden.

 

[leslielbk]

I'm not sure how putting pallets down now would work since it's already really wet in there. They might just keep the moisture in, creating more ick for your birds to deal with. I could be seriously wrong, though. At least do what you can to get it dried out first. I've seen people using cat litter, but it's expensive and has all kinds of crap in it. But. It's made out of some kind of clay that absorbs moisture, so maybe search the forums for cat litter and see what people say about it.
Here's a link so you can see what I mean about the pellets:
https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/p...-pine-pellet-stall-bedding-40-lb?cm_vc=-10005

 

[ChickNanny13]

 

[aart]

It comes in bags, maybe 20-30 pounds or so? I paid about $6. Normally you get it wet, let it expand, and put it down, but because my coop was so wet (it's on concrete) the pellets soaked up the water and expanded from the rain water. It was sideways, slam-down rain and I was desperate for solutions. Get the pellets at Tractor Supply or wherever you get your chicken supplies from.

How long ago did you put these down?
Was it a one time event or on ongoing drainage issue?
Curious what happens to the expanded pellets once the rain/flooding recedes.

 

[Toothpick]

My run used to flood every time it rained. The chickens would roam around in it and drink the water and pick the floating things out of it to eat. Even though they have a dry 8x10 coop. It’s like they enjoyed it. Long term they need dry ground for sure. But short term it’s no worries. I’ve since expanded the run and they have dry ground when it rains but they still “play” in the flooded part. A couple of them even stay out in the rain. I’ve learned that chickens are quite resilient

 

[techbsmith]

Try putting horse pellet bedding down. I used it during hurricane season to suck up the water that got into the coop, and it works great. I'm using it in my new brooder I like it so much.

Hmm....never thought of using stall pellet bedding, but can see where that could be very helpful. I use the DLM in my run, it really does help with odor elimination and hasn't been muddy since I started doing it. Of course, we seldom get the type of rain you do in Florida, but we do get some good downpours on occasion with flash flooding type rains.

I was having trouble with rain water seeping into my coop from under the door - that was easily remedied with a door sweep and by jacking it up and adding a few shims on the back side to force the water to run away from the door. My coop has a porch on the front so there's an area for water to stand if it can't run off.

 

[leslielbk]

How long ago did you put these down?
Was it a one time event or on ongoing drainage issue?
Curious what happens to the expanded pellets once the rain/flooding recedes.

I first used them when hurricane Irma blew through. It was a horrid rainy season and I had to clean and dry out the coop every day.
They soaked up the water that had blown in under the door of the coop. I already had regular pine litter in there, but that was getting drenched. Desperate measures! Out in the downpour, I caulked around the door (great caulk you can use on a wet surface) and screwed a "sweep" across the bottom of the door to act as a rain shield - it worked!!
The pellets literally turn into sawdust. Of course they have a capacity limit so can't be left to soak up water indefinitely, but when using them as regular bedding you wet them first and they expand into, well, sawdust. It's quite lovely to use, actually. Very easy to do a quick poop-scoop cleanup if you only have a few chickens. The nifty thing, if you're a gardener, is that they are terrific compost. Almost pre-broken down. I used to compost the shavings, and they never broke down. Just made a hard wooden mass in the pile. So if I didn't put them there, where would I put them? In the field to fill holes. What a pain. This is so much better.

 

[leslielbk]

I like this video about the bedding pellets.