Help, coop holding water.

[Chickensoftherainbow]

My small coop with my older chicks in it holds water in the bottom when it rains. The chickens have the ability to go up the ladder into the enclosed dry coop, or to go down to the bottom which is enclosed with chicken wire. I lost three of my chickens sometime between yesterday evening and now. My assumption is they got wet, cold and then trampled. Which is just terrible. Every time it rains heavily here the bottom holds water and makes a pond in their ground area. Where I live we have red clay and drainage is poor. What can I do to help, they are on a sloped piece of the property but the frame of the coop isn't allowing the water to drain. I'm worried if I do to much to it, it will either break because its a manufactured coop or something will be able to get into the coop if I cut some type of holes in the wood. Any suggestions???

 

[HamsterStyle]

You could put the coop up on some kind of blocks or risers and use hardware cloth for an apron. That should allow water to drain. I personally would cut away a small section of the wood that's holding water and replace it with a section of piping covered with hardware cloth

 

[Chickensoftherainbow]

You could put the coop up on some kind of blocks or risers and use hardware cloth for an apron. That should allow water to drain. I personally would cut away a small section of the wood that's holding water and replace it with a section of piping covered with hardware cloth

The biggest issue of cutting the wood is that its very thin already. If you dont have the coop sitting square, it looks as if it will just snap. These prefabbed coops are convenient but not really made of much

 

[Alaskan]

how is the rain getting in?

Does it need a new roof? Or roof the entire thing, coop and run?

 

[Chickensoftherainbow]

how is the rain getting in?

Does it need a new roof? Or roof the entire thing, coop and run?

I'm attaching a picture of what it looks like

 

[Chickensoftherainbow]

 

[Alaskan]

In that case...

how is that much water getting into the bottom since it is roofed.... is the Rain coming in sideways?

 

[Alaskan]

if the rain is coming in sideways, put up clear plastic panels on one wall... if the water is coming from ground water flow... redirect the ground water, or put the coop up on concrete blocks.

 

[Alaskan]

Because the coop itself (the wood top) is completely dry... correct?

 

[Chickensoftherainbow]

In that case...

how is that much water getting into the bottom since it is roofed.... is the Rain coming in sideways?

We dont have much grass here. Lots huge of trees. Red clay makes for poor draining. I have no clue how it gets in there. It literally rained all day yesterday though, and some of it was pretty heavy. So the water literally fills up to the top of the wood from the ground. I'm thinking the wet dirt is forming a seal, bc there were small dip between the ground and the frame where the chickens had been scratching around in the pen.