HELP!!!! Chicken are flooded!!!!

[carolina chicky]

Just wondering if anyone has ideas to help me out. I live in South Carolina and we are getting a lot of rain lately. I keep my flock (7 hens and 3 roosters) in a fenced in run all day and their coop is up off the ground so it's okay...but their run is a muddy, smelly, wet mess. The water and mud is up to their little ankles (if chickens even have ankles, lol) I was wondering if anyone has any ideas of what I can do to help dry it up and maybe keep this from happening again. I was thinking maybe sand or pine bark or something....hopefully something not too expensive. Thanks!!

 

[LegHorn-BusHorn]

I would put a bunch of straw if its not to deep

 

[dun chick]

My chickens pen has really never had this problem, but with my horses pens and riding arena I have had these problems. The only way to fix this from not happening is to provide better drainage for the pen by french drains or layering with gravel/sand/then dirt. To temporarily dry it up, throw some wood chips fine grained down enough to cover the whole area about 4 inches or more thick.

 

[MandyH]

Atraw will stink like the devil and pine bark will just float around, what you need is sand. Get some good quality sand and make it at least 6 inches deep in the whole area. The sand allows the water to go to the bottom but keeps the birds dry. We have 6-8 inches of sand in all coops, runs and even the sheep stall. I LOVE it. There is virtually no clean up or maintenance. The sand also pulls the moisture out of the poo thus disintigrating it so there is no smell or flies. Well worth the money.

 

[Chickenfeet]

Sand will do the trick!

 

[Chicken03]

After some of the water is gone, you can put grass clippings in the run. Thats what I do and it does a good job of keeping the mud down.

 

[BantyBoy]

Quote:
Sand is the answer. Pile it up until it's a 'sand berm'.

 

[carolina chicky]

Thanks a lot for the help!! I think I'll get a load of sand tomorrow and try to dry out my little chickies feet for a while. At least all this rain is good for my garden

 

[lilchick]

lay some pallets down for them to walk on. when the water dries up remove them...

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

Instead of trying to fill in very much, I'd be looking at a way to divert the water somewhere else.

A little grading, and maybe a ditch for better drainage will do better than trying to raise the inside of the run