Help me with my wet/low spot, how best to make this area dry?

[Noymira]

Here's my problem spot...

It's mess right now, in more than one way. I will blame that on the previous owners (my dad and brother), none of that is mine! But, I digress....

This is a covered area of the back side of what will be our coop. I want to use this as part of our run, and be able to close it in more during the winter to allow the chickens to get out in a mostly snow free area (I am either going to do the back wall as a permanent wall or as a seasonal wind/snow break. It's about 8' X 10', I plan on digging down along the outside edge to bury the hardware cloth and add gravel to help with drainage. After reading patandchickens page on muddy runs I think I might add a gutter to that roof as well to direct the runoff water away. Under the roof overhang we get some water pooling, mostly in the spring with snow melt running off the bank behind the shed.

I'm wondering how much sand/gravel I would need to add to keep this usable for the chickens this time of year, would 4-6 inches be enough, or should I go for 8 inches? There is probably an inch or two of standing water in the lowest spot now. Or should I really spend more time and effort on a gravel trench along that outside edge?

 

[DaddysChickens]

With just looking at it in a pic...My 2 cents would be you can get away with gravel...How much is hard to say..It depends on how much lower the spot is to zero...Zero being the highest spot in that area...So, if you take zero and put 2" ontop of that and then level out I think you will be fine if you add the gutter you are talking about..

 

[patandchickens]

Your best bet would be if you can trench out from the low spot to somewhere even lower, providing a route for water to drain away, *and also* add some sand or gravel mix or something like that. I would recommend adding at least 2x the height difference you're trying to make up, first because it settles, second because it will gradually disappear into the dirt, and third because you are trying to make it actually *higher* than teh surrounding ground not just level.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[Noymira]

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Gravel isn't too hard on the chickens feet by itself?

 

[Noymira]

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I'll have to go check the site, I think I can trench out of there into the main run area. Thanks!