Deep Litter or Sand

[Rshumpal]

Ok... here is my problem and inquiry.....I am in Georgia. We have been having far more rain than usual. I have had over 8 inches of rain in less than 2 months. I have had flooding, not just in my chicken coop but my entire farm (cow pastures have been underwater too). I am stuggling to give my feathered babies a dry place to go. Since I am going to have to totally clean out the coop due to flooding, I was considering going to sand - in hopes of faster drainage and faster drying. I have never had flooding in my coop and I have had my chickens for more than 8 years so. My chickens free range, I let them out in the mornings and count and secure the coop at sunset, so they aren't in the coop except to lay eggs and sleep. I am wanting to hear advice, experience, and/or other input to help me and my feathered children! Thanks! Y'all are the best!!!

So my coop isn’t flooded, just damp from all this. I guess I will throw in some more pine nuggets and get a pine bale and do a good toss. My bedding is 3 bags of sand over the hard clay for leveling, the pine straw, large nuggets, and small nuggets, with the left over baby bedding of pine shavings and peat moss.
Thanks everyone.

 

[Rshumpal]

Even with sand, in the event of flooding, I would still recommend doing a full clean out once flooding ended. But yes it could possibly dry out faster. As I don't use sand I can't test it.

Deep litter actually can dry out pretty fast, provided it has some place to drain to and there's adequate air flow to move the process along. I'm talking about deep litter with wood chips as main component though, not deep bedding which is what it sounds like you have? I do not use shavings in anything other than nest box, as shavings don't provide the drainage that chips do, nor do they break down nice and easy like leaves or grass or other components.

This was what I was dealing with 2 weeks ago (but my coop is elevated, so at least it didn't get in the coop). As you can imagine, there wasn't anything I could do about it at the time other than lock the chickens in. But as bad as this was, the deep litter run drained out and was usable 48 hrs after this photo was taken. The surrounding lawn was too squishy to walk on for about a week.

View attachment 2032655

Oh my. I cannot complain at all now.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Oh my. I cannot complain at all now.

Mine isn't even "that bad" from what I've heard/seen. At least the water did technically have some place to go (it shot across 4 acres and across a busy road haha). But from the folks I've talked to some people got totally flooded out.

 

[Onyx961]

Update
So I cleaned out my coop, let dry for 2 days, then put in sand on top of gravel. I did this 2 weeks ago. Since then we have gotten another 6 or more inches of rain (4 inches in 3 days this week). The coop stayed dry!!!!! Thank you all for your help!!!

 

[paintedChix]

interesting concept and I'm confused. You put gravel in the coop itself or just out in the run?

Is your coop wood floored or on the dirt?

 

[Onyx961]

interesting concept and I'm confused. You put gravel in the coop itself or just out in the run?

Is your coop wood floored or on the dirt?

My chickens are true free range so I don't have a run. The chickens are really only in the coop at night and to lay their eggs. The door is opened in the morning and closed at sundown, after everyone is roosted for the night. The coop has a dirt floor. I layered the gravel and sand. I put down landscape fabric first (which allows water to go through) then put a layer of gravel for drainage, then put another layer of landscape fabric, then put sand as the top layer. Essentially, you could say it is a large french drain only without a pipe. The sand is deep enough that the chickens can't or rather haven't dug down to the gravel. I'm sure they would if they weren't able to get out of the coop and free range.
Hope that answers your question.