Help! Ideas to Maximize Run Addition?

[Cooptown Lady]

You have many plans ahead of you. I am still trying to visualize all that you described.
If I was in the backyard with you next to me, I would be able to offer much more, since a back and forth conversation is priceless, in conveying a message.
Let me offer some advice about what I do know. The Polycarbonate panels are good and I have them on the back of my garage as a overhead weather shield. Mine are a blue clear color, and it seem not available. Clear and smoke color are. Had mine up for over 20 years, and served me well. I have my panels supported every 2 feet, since I do encounter a significant snow load.
View attachment 2716244
There are also same size panels available in Fiberglass. which is stronger. Not available as commonly as the polycarbonate, but If you search,,,,,,,,, sure you can find some.
In my area, Menards carries them. I did not check other stores, but Home Depot does not have them listed .
View attachment 2716245

The panels are comparably priced.

This is my input to your many questions.

WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

I put dark gray poly panels on the roof of the 8 x 8 run. The entire roof is covered in panels which is great for shade (AZ heat) and predator protection (hawks).

At first I thought a gray almost black roof might absorb heat and add heat to the run. Just the opposite! I read that the poly panels block UV which causes heat.

I love these panels! The run is so shady. BTW, if the roof is high enough (mine is only 5 ft.) the chickens get plenty of sun from the sides.

 

[khind]

I have that option. If you go to my coop page I show how we did it.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/a-desert-oasis-updated-2-2020.75224/

Thanks! Checking it out now.

 

[khind]

(This post is intentionally "blank" in meaning because I couldn't delete a poorly written post I just wrote. I'll try to rewrite it later. )

 

[Auntiejessi3]

 

[khind]

I am so sad & I feel at a loss. I've been working out there on some project many hours of every day - working according to the weather - rewiring the large existing run myself, raising chicks in the house, who are now old enough to move outside & use that new run space DH and I are building, separating my roo from the ladies because he's got a favorite who now has a bald spot on her head...

New Run: We got the roof up and wired the walls, but next I still had plenty of work left to do: caulk ceiling holes left by the aluminum panels' previous use, haul in more dirt and start the deep litter, troubleshoot some key spots for security... all of which I go out there to work on. But in the process, we had some rain - fine. But then, more rain, and more rain, around 10 days' worth, almost all day long (& sometimes literally all day), including long, heavy downpours. And the rain is still coming.

So some of my lumber that I couldn't move is soaked (a few wood scraps randomly tossed out there have mold on the back side). Some lumber still needs to be cut to do patch work in the hard-to-patch, awkward-angled spots that reared their heads between the existing coop and the addition; the ground is like a wet sponge, the dirt ground immediately surrounding the buildings (from chickens stripping those areas) is a muddy mess only becoming worse by my walking on it... And of course, I'm still waiting to caulk those holes in the new-run ceiling. I will need to go and get whatever replacement lumber I need today. But that surrounding ground must be addressed now - the erosion is really getting bad.

In our region which is usually in a drought, in the past couple years whenever a very heavy rain would be on the way (they'd become monsoon-type), I would prepare by hauling dirt from a couple of huge piles we have on the property. I would shovel it around the coop where the chickens dug for their baths, & inside the runs in the same low spots. But those piles are now just soaked-through hills (of mostly clay).

I've got deep litter in the large & small runs. The small run is still doing well - it's dry and smells like nothing. One positive note.

But the large run has started to get wet & keeps getting wet along the interior edges/"floorboard" areas from all this rain, so I rake it around, but for the first time, that deep litter now stinks! I've raked the wet spots & used zeolite...
(I cover the run walls with garden shade cloth. It does a good job of ventilating, and some mist gets in, I'm sure, which is fine. But I think the rain has just been heavy enough & the winds strong enough that rain got in through gaps.)

And, worst of all, last evening when I went to check and lock up the large coop for my ladies who had gone up to roost, when I opened that coop/roost door, I caught a whiff of MOLD. My worst nightmare. All the work to make your chickens' lives healthier, and now they're going to get sick and die of Mold!

So... I guess I need to treat the wood inside the existing coop for mold, and make a new door to replace the roost door (which seems to have the most water damage), and then...? hope that the mold gets killed and dries enough for me to prime and paint it with the anti-mold products I bought, until I can bit-by-bit replace some of those wood pieces...? I don't have electricity out there - I run an extension cord; once the rain stops, maybe I can get a small dehumidifier to run in there during the day while they're all in the run, in the meantime?
I wonder if I need to start over with deep litter in that large run. If so, could I throw out the litter that looks good right onto the surrounding muddy ground, and work it in with some hauled-in wet soil? (I wonder if it's too wet for any sod to take...)

I'm sorry this is so long. I'm so sad I feel like throwing in the towel, but I can't! I've got another few weeks b4 my job picks up again, so I've got to get the most done I can. Any kind of experience or ideas that pop up... I would appreciate. Maybe even more than that I just need to vent, and I know that people here would understand...

 

[3KillerBs]

My winter was like that -- rain and rain and more rain. That's one of the reasons we're not done with the Chicken Palace so that my chickens are living in a conglomeration of odd, rednecked housing.

All I can recommend is to increase the ventilation to the maximum possible without letting rain in and add dry organic material to soak up the wet. The coarsest material you can readily access to allow maximum airflow in the bedding. (Wish I could send you a bale of pine straw).

This is the tarp "porch" on my brooder -- it keeps the rain out of the wire wall without restricting airflow.

 

[khind]

My winter was like that -- rain and rain and more rain. That's one of the reasons we're not done with the Chicken Palace so that my chickens are living in a conglomeration of odd, rednecked housing.

All I can recommend is to increase the ventilation to the maximum possible without letting rain in and add dry organic material to soak up the wet. The coarsest material you can readily access to allow maximum airflow in the bedding. (Wish I could send you a bale of pine straw).

This is the tarp "porch" on my brooder -- it keeps the rain out of the wire wall without restricting airflow.

View attachment 2744433

Thank you. Gosh, I think I could make a tarp porch like that. I like it!

 

[3KillerBs]

Thank you. Gosh, I think I could make a tarp porch like that. I like it!

I don't guarantee it's stability in high winds, but it's worked well so far against moderate rain and light winds.

 

[khind]

My winter was like that -- rain and rain and more rain. That's one of the reasons we're not done with the Chicken Palace so that my chickens are living in a conglomeration of odd, rednecked housing.

All I can recommend is to increase the ventilation to the maximum possible without letting rain in and add dry organic material to soak up the wet. The coarsest material you can readily access to allow maximum airflow in the bedding. (Wish I could send you a bale of pine straw).

This is the tarp "porch" on my brooder -- it keeps the rain out of the wire wall without restricting airflow.

View attachment 2744433

I always thought "straw" was bad at resisting moisture and mold?
I do have large pine flakes I can add. i can get more large litter at a store.

 

[3KillerBs]

I always thought "straw" was bad at resisting moisture and mold?
I do have large pine flakes I can add. i can get more large litter at a store.

Pine straw is the fallen needles of Loblolly and Longleaf pines -- 6-12" long. It's a big thing in the southeast -- actually raised on "straw farms" and baled for sale. Landscapers LOVE it.

I rake mine up off the lawn and out of the woods rather than buying it.

The great thing about it is that it resists compacting, doesn't mold readily, and dries out on top very quickly once the rain stops.

I forgot to mention in the previous post that mold often starts first on spilled feed. A spot-cleaning around the feeder might help if they've been throwing feed around more aggressively than usual due to being inside more in the bad weather.