Got myself in a predicament...

[Mimi13]

Sorry for not responding sooner! I didn’t get notifications I was replied to!




This is a RENTAL, and we were allowed to build our chicken coop here (owners request) and our plan is to move. Eventually. It probably won’t be for a few more years unfortunately, this is a good place to be able to save for our own place and we are FINALLY in a financial spot to do just that. I’m not afraid of hard work and yes even in the rain and mud. The most of the dread comes with having a 2 year old daughter tagging along and managing to make everything take 10x longer. And what do I do with the material inside once taken out?
I know where the most of the water comes from. So one thing that complicates my situation is we live right on a creek/water run off. When we have our rain, the creek jumps the bank in the neighbors pasture and it runs right behind our coop. A ditch runs the length of the pasture and does help some to redirect the water back into the creek but obviously not enough. About 1x a year the creek overflows severely and the chicken run is at it’s mercy (the house and out buildings are okay). See below for photos if your curious to see our current water situation.
The roof to our coop was unfortunately angled the wrong way. My husband did most of the work while I was at work and the run was originally going to be on the other side but he changed some things without my authorization. Oops. I’ll see if we can add a gutter to it to this summer to redirect the water.



I can add some pine shavings to hopefully help the poop/mud issue temporarily.




Just dirt and roughly 2 yards or chips in the run. See my first reply about my drainage woes and what I’m up against.



So is straw or wood shavings better in my situation? I heard straw can stink. Definitely want to lessen the stink!



The outside puddle does not sweep into the run NORMALLY. There is enough chips that it keeps the water from pooling inside. See my first reply about what I’m up against with water. Also, here are some more photos of my run/coop taken today.

View attachment 1994519
View attachment 1994518 View attachment 1994517 View attachment 1994516

Creek runs the length of the property in the front
View attachment 1994520

I love your coop and runs. And, even though the land tends to flood, I love your property.

 

[azygous]

I know I’m late jumping into this thread, but I find your observation utterly amazing. I wonder what it is you see that clues you in to the land’s past use.

Unfortunately, unless our coops/runs are built in the perfect spot (as if that really exists) we all have to deal with excess water at some time, I guess. I know I do and am right now.

@azygous, I am so totally awestruck with your vast knowledge. Thank you for sharing.

It's called "succession", an ecological term. After the last ice age, there were lots of lakes in North America surrounded by evergreen forests that shed run-off down slope into the lakes. As this went on over centuries, the lakes silted in and became very shallow, and eventually, the shallow lakes dried up as the climate became drier. Sooner or later, all these former lakes turn into lovely meadows with grass.

But that's not the end of it. Those forests surrounding the lovely meadow slowly march in from the lower slopes, seeding baby pines that expand the forest, closing in from the former shores of the lake. Someday, even the lovely meadows will all disappear as the forest marches across the former meadows.

Meanwhile, the meadow where our OP lives is still trying to be the lake it was not too long ago. Most geological processes require millions of years, but erosion and plant succession can happen in just a few human lifetimes. It's nature moving so fast it feels sometimes like it's trying to break the sound barrier.

 

[Ginmary]

I have little experience but...
Can you put cinderblocks spaced out and put wood sheets over them covered with bedding. This can raise the floor and the water can do what it wants underneath????

 

[azygous]

Here's a cute blog where the chicken keeper copes with the same kind of regular flooding you do. https://girragirra.com/2016/09/18/do-chooks-wear-floaties-or-what-happens-when-it-floods/

Anything is possible if you are resourceful. Just need to start thinking unconventionally.

 

[aart]

After the last ice age, there were lots of lakes in North America

Yeppers...and still lots of wet spots.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I got my wish! We are COMPLETELY flooded. I jostled the chips loose so we will see what I’m left with after the water goes down. Chickens are pissed that they are locked up but they had snacks and are clean, dry and not drowned. Oh and I found out I have holes in my muck boots

Yay join the flood club (https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/yay-flooding.1342945/page-3#post-22182684)! My chickens are mad at being locked up as well, but at least they're dry and I can at least keep an eye on things via coop cam instead of trudging out there to keep checking on them.

Can you tell how many inches you have in the run there? Mine is averaging about 2" in the run. How bad is the current?

@HenOnAJuneBug linked some pretty interesting looking alternatives to sandbags. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Quick-Dam-17-ft-Flood-Barrier-QD617-1/203556392 and https://www.aquadam.net/ - won't stop the run from getting wet at all but might help with the straight up flooding in there.

Also this is why I now have 3 pairs of rain/garden boots. If any water splashes into one or anything happens to one, I swap to the next, and so on. I also have hipwaders but hoping I don't need to break those out!

 

[Acre4Me]

@chickenmomma16 -that is a lot of water! We’ve had done wAter issues, but yours are a bit more difficult bc it’s flat land in a wet environment as previously discussed.

Since you are saving to buy a home and this place is just a rental, I would be hesitant to spend much for a solution. However, you may be able to get free wood chipping from a tree business bc they will chop down dead trees anyway and put them through a chipper and need a place for them. You might be able to score free or low cost materials to build up the run area, or something like that via CL or a local auction, estate/farm sale. Using pallets can be good for the rainy season, but I know some people had the experience of rodents liking the space within the pallets bc free feed falls through and the chickens can’t get the rodents (same for some blocks). If you just used them for the really wet times, there shouldn't be a rodent problem.

as already mentioned, the best part about your current flood is that you know where the highest spots are in the yard. Good luck.

 

[chickenmomma16]

You wanted to be flooded?!
High point would be now you can see where the higher land is and hopefully move the coop there.

I needed to break up the top layer of poo that had formed. That’s where the flooded run was needed. I left it un covered to hopefully soften it so I could break it up but it wasn’t working. This did the trick. I went out with a rake and broke it all up. Now we are just waiting for the water to recede to see what I have left.

 

[chickenmomma16]

Yay join the flood club (https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/yay-flooding.1342945/page-3#post-22182684)! My chickens are mad at being locked up as well, but at least they're dry and I can at least keep an eye on things via coop cam instead of trudging out there to keep checking on them.

Can you tell how many inches you have in the run there? Mine is averaging about 2" in the run. How bad is the current?

@HenOnAJuneBug linked some pretty interesting looking alternatives to sandbags. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Quick-Dam-17-ft-Flood-Barrier-QD617-1/203556392 and https://www.aquadam.net/ - won't stop the run from getting wet at all but might help with the straight up flooding in there.

Also this is why I now have 3 pairs of rain/garden boots. If any water splashes into one or anything happens to one, I swap to the next, and so on. I also have hipwaders but hoping I don't need to break those out!

Ooh! A coop cam sounds really handy!
I put my soaked boots on a boot dryer and put my feet in a bag next time I went out. Worked in a pinch. I don't think the bags would have worked in my situation, just too much water and it flows.

The water level was up to my calf so I’d say at least 6 inches Deep. The current isn’t bad but definitely there.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I put my soaked boots on a boot dryer and put my feet in a bag next time I went out. Worked in a pinch. I don't think the bags would have worked in my situation, just too much water and it flows.

The water level was up to my calf so I’d say at least 6 inches Deep. The current isn’t bad but definitely there.

Good thinking, using the boots to hold the bag in place so that you could at least keep your feet dry.

Yikes, you're in deeper than we are. We have more of a current, but that also means the water is vacating as well (right into the road at front of property - everyone gets to suffer with us).