How do you keep your bedding dry in wet weather?

[Vincentville farm]

Is the moist spot only underneath the roosting area, or is it on the ground near their chicken door from bringing it inside? Have you stuck a sprinkler on the roof and gone inside to look for drips? Maybe one roof fastener is letting in water when it rains. Pellets will quickly turn into sawdust once they get wet - which may hold more moisture directly against the wood, so keep that in mind.

There are dozens of pics online of chicken poop hammocks, just use an image search engine

Thanks for the suggestions. And, yes, the wet area is only under the roost. The bedding by the doors are dry.

 

[saysfaa]

.... Is there anything else that might be of help for keeping my bedding dry?...

I agree with finding any leaks or seepage you might have. Other things that may help include wider eaves (if the moisture is blowing in). And maybe more ventilation. My coop has an open side (all year) and large widows open (in the warmer seasons) on another side and eave and ridge vents so quite a lot of rain or snow blows in sometimes in the warmer seasons. It dries quickly because there is so much airflow.

 

[21hens-incharge]

I noticed in one picture there is a heat lamp being held up by the clamp that comes with them.
It is also on and facing up.

Please unplug it for safety sake. All it takes is one flapping smack from a bird or one drop of water on it and disaster strikes.

 

[saysfaa]

I noticed in one picture there is a heat lamp being held up by the clamp that comes with them.
It is also on and facing up.

Please unplug it for safety sake. All it takes is one flapping smack from a bird or one drop of water on it and disaster strikes.

Or dust on the bulb getting thick enough to hold heat enough to reach combustion temperatures. Dust is very flammable. The heat will dry it even if the building has moisture problems.

 

[NatJ]

I noticed in one picture there is a heat lamp being held up by the clamp that comes with them.
It is also on and facing up.

Please unplug it for safety sake. All it takes is one flapping smack from a bird or one drop of water on it and disaster strikes.

I see that fixture, but the bulb does not look like the typical big red bulb. I think it's a normal-powered light bulb. So depending on whether it makes much heat (incandescent bulb) or not much heat (fluorescent or LED), it might just be a source of light rather than a big fire hazard. I regularly see those metal reflectors sold in hardware stores as clamp-on work lamps.

Of course anything electrical can be a fire hazard, especially around chicken dust, but usually the large-wattage incandescent bulbs are what make a heat lamp an extra hazard beyond what normal lighting would be.

 

[21hens-incharge]

It looks like a red glow above it to me.

Either way it's not held up well and pointing up is asking for a drop of condensation to hit it. Note the board show signs of moisture.
I would still remove it.

 

[NatJ]

It looks like a red glow above it to me.

I agree that the glow above the bulb is red. But the bulb itself is not red-- look carefully down in the lamp. The closer to the bulb you get, the more yellow/white the light is, and the bulb itself is white. It also looks like a typical lightbulb shape, not the big/wide shape of the high-wattage bulbs. And if that is the most common size of reflector, the size of the bulb is also a typical lightbulb size, not the bigger heat lamp bulb size.

Either way it's not held up well and pointing up is asking for a drop of condensation to hit it. Note the board show signs of moisture.
I would still remove it.

I agree with those points. I remember OP said the boards are dry now, so the moisture damage must be from some time in the past, but if it was wet before it might get wet again (wet in the future has no bearing on the current wet bedding situation, but yes it would matter for a light fixture that is right underneath.)

 

[Sally PB]

I would LOVE to see the poop hammock pictures again so I can see if I might be able to work something like that into my coop design.

I don't have a hammock, but I do have a poop board. It's high enough from the floor that the chickens can walk under it. It's covered with about 1/4-1/2" of sweet PDZ, and I scoop the poop every morning. That chore takes about 2 minutes.
Picture:

 

[Vincentville farm]

I noticed in one picture there is a heat lamp being held up by the clamp that comes with them.
It is also on and facing up.

Please unplug it for safety sake. All it takes is one flapping smack from a bird or one drop of water on it and disaster strikes.

It is not a heat lamp it is a 1W bulb that I keep on all the time. My chickens don't like the dark and this is as close as I can get to it at night. It also helps me check on them after they have gone to bed, "beak count", to make sure they are all where they are supposed to be.

 

[Vincentville farm]

I don't have a hammock, but I do have a poop board. It's high enough from the floor that the chickens can walk under it. It's covered with about 1/4-1/2" of sweet PDZ, and I scoop the poop every morning. That chore takes about 2 minutes.
Picture:
View attachment 3663575

I put in a piece of linoleum that I roll up during the day and out at night. I don't like that they stomp around on it before the doors open but they do also kick bedding on it. Clean up takes me 5-10 minutes. Now my least favorite job but SO worth it! I have 19 birds and them make a LOT of waste at night! I had NO idea how much I was mixing into their bedding every day!!!