How to keep an earth coop floor dry?

[chicksandchores]

We live in what could very much be considered a small bowl. The road is higher on one side, the foodplot higher on the other, the yard and a neighbors field are higher on both of the other sides. My coop is in a relatively low area by the house so an extension cord can be run when need be rather than constantly having electricity to it. The coop floor is CONSTANTLY wet. I can wait until it dries out some and put down fresh straw, but being in middle Tennessee, the rain never stays away for very long it seems. I’ve gone through bales upon bales of straw and quite frankly, it’s getting very pricey! I can’t just leave the mucky stuff; water literally stands after a two or three inch rain and it makes for a nasty poop-mud-water-straw mix. Moving the coop is NOT an option. I believe I’m going to have to build on soon, or sell (or eat) a few birds because chicken math outran my available space with a quickness this spring. I don’t have a reliable income; I’m a full time student with no job but I receive money from excess scholarship funds most semesters and budget my way through. I plan to sell from my garden and the eggs I get at the local farmers market but I can’t count on that to be stable income. I can’t afford much in the way of renovations or additional coops; the only reason I have this one is because my dad is a contractor and he had enough scraps laying around to put one together.
I also failed to allow headspace for poop boards and the layout makes changing anything about the roosts/nest boxes/etc impossible. Hindsight is 20/20..... any advice on what I can do to help my yucky, mucky, smelly coop?

 

[Melky]

My husband and I mucked out our attached run and put in medium construction grade sand. We also put in two drains one each side buried in the run but goes out under the run behind it to drain water. Works great. We put river rock around tubing but not sure that was the best as chickens have turned over the sand and rock is mixed in. No smelly muddy mess no matter how much rain. You can use black corrugated piping or PVC tubing.

 

[Ghosty]

You might dig a couple trenches along side of your coop running off the low end and lay a couple French drains to let the water run off. Basements use French drains along the foundation to keep water from standing and cracking the foundation and seeping in. I put pea gravel down around my run and a thin layer inside to raise the area and give it drainage to keep it dry. It works well.

 

[Ghosty]

We just had a big storm, and still raining. You could add some hardwood chunky mulch on top.

 

[aart]

My coop is in a relatively low area

Is there a lower area nearby that you can run a drain to?
Pics might help.

 

[chicksandchores]

Is there a lower area nearby that you can run a drain to?
Pics might help.

Sorry, it’s been a crazy day with Easter coming up and it will be another few crazy ones I’m sure. Yes, there is a lower area it could be drained to. There isn’t much of a slope but I’d say over all it drops maybe 2-4 feet from the coop to the stream running through the back yard, and it’s roughly a 30 foot distance from the coop to said stream. I might be able to get a picture here in the next couple of days; my garden area starts only three feet away from the coop on the south side of the coop (north side of the house though so full light most of the day) and I have everything moved around where it would be hard to get the coop and the stream both in a picture without obstacles. If it will dry up some (we’re on two consecutive days of rain here, going on possibly some snow tomorrow.... dogwood winter sucks!) I can get everything situated and a picture taken. I discussed a French drain with my father (a contractor) earlier this evening and he has some black corrugated pipe left over from the house he’s building right now and said I could use it to make one and that it would probably help significantly with the coop.

 

[aart]

Sorry, it’s been a crazy day with Easter coming up and it will be another few crazy ones I’m sure. Yes, there is a lower area it could be drained to. There isn’t much of a slope but I’d say over all it drops maybe 2-4 feet from the coop to the stream running through the back yard, and it’s roughly a 30 foot distance from the coop to said stream. I might be able to get a picture here in the next couple of days; my garden area starts only three feet away from the coop on the south side of the coop (north side of the house though so full light most of the day) and I have everything moved around where it would be hard to get the coop and the stream both in a picture without obstacles. If it will dry up some (we’re on two consecutive days of rain here, going on possibly some snow tomorrow.... dogwood winter sucks!) I can get everything situated and a picture taken. I discussed a French drain with my father (a contractor) earlier this evening and he has some black corrugated pipe left over from the house he’s building right now and said I could use it to make one and that it would probably help significantly with the coop.

No problem.
2-4' drop over 30' is pretty steep.
Is garden between coop and stream?
Digging a simple trench might work, does here, but does take some maintenance...
....or put the pipe in the trench, especially in the run and put pavers over it because they will dig it up.
Best time to dig said trench is when it's raining hard, then you can see where the water goes...start at the puddle then dig trench downslope.

After you get water flowing out of run, add wood chips to ameliorate the muck.
My runs have semi-deep litter, never clean anything out, just add smaller dry materials on occasion, add larger wood chippings as needed.
Aged ramial wood chippings are best IMO.