Flooding

[Lifeiseasy]

Good luck! I hope your yard doesn't flood. We don't have standing water in many places, since our whole property has a gradual slope down to a river at the end of the property line. Water drains really well, but these heavy downpours have made for some flash flooding!

We’re next to a swamp so sadly one side of our property is pretty bad. The other side, where the birds are, has a couple of new mini ponds but it’s not too bad. The ducks and geese absolutely love all the water and the chickens are staying pretty dry so they’re happy too. Little miss broody got the best spot though, she’s comfortably in the big sturdy coop on top of 13 eggs. The coop I want to switch her to is the old TSC small coop that we started them in.

 

[aart]

My silly chickens are choosing to stand in the puddles in the run, with rain soaking them because it is coming in sideways.

Mine like to do that too......no worries, they may look like 'drowned rats' but are probably nice and dry underneath those wet feathers

The rain slacked a little and I went out to check and no more standing water! Yay! Hopefully it will drain quickly.

There ya go! Sounds like the soil drainage is good.

 

[LittleMissCountry]

Mine like to do that too......no worries, they may look like 'drowned rats' but are probably nice and dry underneath those wet feathers

There ya go! Sounds like the soil drainage is good.

Good to know it is okay for them to stand in the rain! Thank you.

The drainage should be good in usual rainfall. Most rain showers the run floor stays completely dry. This deluge for days on end is ridiculous.

So quick question...their feeder got soaked and dumped a bunch of feed out. It also moved all the dead leaves, pine needles, and other organic matter I had in the run against one side of the run. Do I need to completely change out all the leaves/litter and put new stuff in, or can I just dump new stuff on top? I know I have to get all the feed off the ground, but it was a runny mess when I tried tonight (in the pouring rain).

 

[aart]

I'd get as much of the feed up as possible, then maybe rake the litter away from where it settled and spread it back out...or let the birds do it.

 

[LittleMissCountry]

I'd get as much of the feed up as possible, then maybe rake the litter away from where it settled and spread it back out...or let the birds do it.

Thank you. If it ever stops raining today, or at least lessens, I will try to scoop up feed. I will see if the chickens spread it out, and then add more leaves/pine needles once they dry out a little.
I saw in another thread someone suggested putting compressed pine horse bedding pellets in to soak up water. What do you think about that for the next big rainstorm? Right now, the run is draining well, just soggy.

 

[aart]

I saw in another thread someone suggested putting compressed pine horse bedding pellets in to soak up water. What do you think about that for the next big rainstorm?

I saw that too. Not sure I'd bother if your ground is draining.
Might depend on what ingredients you have in your run litter and if sawdust is viable addition.
Wood is not a bad ingredient for run litter but larger wood chippings would be better than sawdust, IMO.

 

[LittleMissCountry]

I saw that too. Not sure I'd bother if your ground is draining.
Might depend on what ingredients you have in your run litter and if sawdust is viable addition.
Wood is not a bad ingredient for run litter but larger wood chippings would be better than sawdust, IMO.

Right now I just have dried leaves, pine needles, grass clippings, and twigs. I can check around for wood chips...there are tons of lumber companies around. So are there any types of wood I should avoid?

 

[aart]

Ramial wood chippings from tree trimmers are best, IMO.
Let them age for a few months to avoid toxic mold blooms that can easily happen with fresh chippings.

 

[Duckstail]

This East Coast rain is crazy I don't remember it raining so much in May!!!

I have to put my chickens inside luckily I have a pretty big inside shed..

On the flip side my Ducks are having the time of there lives!!

Atleast somthing is enjoying this weather

 

[Ursuline Chick]

We had horrible rain storms for hours yesterday. The chicks and hens were dry in their respective coops. The run areas were under a few inches of water, which drained once the rain stopped. The chicks ran out into the run as it started to drain and began fighting over worms that were coming out of the ground. DH dug worms last week and found the small ones, so Moma hen could show the chicks they were yummy. Well they learned that lesson quick and were on the hunt in the run yesterday evening.