I need to keep water out of the run

[unbaked pegga]

I need a simple (as possible) fix for water standing in the run. My back yard doesn’t seem sloped, but it is. I had to have the area around the back of the house graded and sod put in because the concrete slab my house sits on was being eroded. But after $5000 it is better, much better but that area just seems to stay wet all winter. Heavy clay soil makes it worse. The coop and run are about halfway up the yard. The coop is about a foot above the ground. I am going to try and upload a few photos so you can get an idea of what I am talking about. I am out of money for anything involved because I I have spent it fixing up the house after I bought it. Anything that is done I will have to do it myself because while I have grown children, they don’t have time. The original run was 4 ft long. I had the company that built the coop to raise it about 6” off the ground. It has hardware screen on the bottom. Last summer I had it enlarged to 10’ but the guy put it back flush on the ground. And won’t raise it up because he said it would cost a bunch more money to raise it up and I now don’t have a bunch more money. Come the onset of winter and the coop stayed wet. I sunk some bricks around the back and that was of no help. So far I have put out about 600 lbs of sand around the back of the run thinking it would divert the way the water runs. Rained last night. The sand in the coop is sopping wet. Water is not standing in it but it is only a breath away from doing so. I am so tired off breaking my back and getting a double hernia trying to dig holes and lift 50# bags of sand. What is an old, poor woman to do? Seriously

 

[PirateGirl]

When I read this I thought of it a different way... instead of keeping water out of the run (which seems like s losing battle right now) perhaps you need to find a way to adequately drain the water from the run. I don't know a ton about landscaping, but I'd think you can construct some sort of drain that will help with the problems. I hope someone can chime in here with a link or a step by step for you.

 

[rosemarythyme]

That's pretty bad. I hope someone who knows more about drainage can give some advice about how to permanently fix it.

In the meantime, see if you can pick up any form of litter - it's not the season for it but any sort of dried leaves, wood chips or mulch (preferably aged but you might not have the luxury to be too picky about it), wood shavings, grass, weeds, pretty much anything like that, and use that instead of sand. It won't fix the drainage issue, but enough of it will help form a mat that your chickens can walk on that's above the water level until the drainage can be fixed. If you collect plant/wood matter from neighbors (or some tree trimming companies or city services will dump mulch for free) it won't cost anything and surely must be easier to manage than heavy bags of sand.

 

[sweetater22]

Hard to tell from pics, but it appears the water is coming from behind the coop and run. If that is the case possibly you could set out about 1 foot from the back of your run a dig a diversion ditch around to the front corner that would allow the water to drain around the coop and away down the yard. The ditch doesn't need to be very deep 4-6 inches take the dirt that is removed and place against the coop side to form a kind of higher bank to help hold the water out. Then you can add wood chips etc. to dry out the coop inside. I wouldn't use sand which will continue to stay wet. Hope this helps

 

[wyoDreamer]

It looks like the surrounding ground level is higher than the run - did you peel the sod off that area when you made your run or did the birds dig it down that far? If you can raise the ground level in the run higher than the ground outside the run, the excess water will have no choice but to run off into the yard instead of pooling in the run. Make it a couple of inches higher inside the run than outside. I would use sand to help it drain.
My run looks like that on occasion, frozen ground does not drain and here in Wisconsin we get pretty deep frost, so spring time (or rain in January) will make it puddle pretty bad until the ground thaws completely.

 

[jthornton]

I used these catch basins with the matching hose to drain water from around my shops. You might look at a trench drain as well.

JT

 

[Shadyfarms]

You could also build raised garden beds around the run with a trench in front to allow the water to drain off to the side. I also put all excess sod/dead leaves in the run so that the ground is higher. Also the flat roof probably is not helping, it should slope to the down hill side so the water drains away. Hope that helps!

 

[JaeG]

Because of our wet, clay soil in winter we have put all of our runs up on wooden pallets with hardware cloth over the top to stop rodents getting in. I put straw in the runs as bedding. That would be a quick fix and pallets can be found for free generally.

 

[KettermanHillCoop]

A French draining system would do the trick. If you don't have a viable exit point for the excess water, just add a dry well at the end of the drain. 12" wide by 4' deep filled with gravel.

 

[Cryss]

WOOD CHIPS!!! FREE!
Wood is absorbent. The top exposed chips will dry out while the bottom chips absorb. Call your local tree service and ask them to dump a truckload of chips in your driveway. I have a similar problem, I was sinking my boots in mud. Now I wear old shoes, no mud. Yard leaves can get slippery. I promise, you won't regret using wood chips.
By the way, the ground underneath will turn to some of the best soil you can get, better than stuff you pay for. The chips and chook poo start m breaking down, earth worms do their thing, and you end up with garden soil to die for.