Iowa Flood/Mud Help

[Crow-ded house]

In OK having same issue. Rain grrrr!!! We put some bricks we had laying around some broken pallets tree stumps that wont burn anyway because too wet. Our coop is muddy also because they are so dirty right now. We also had bits of roofing tin from an old shed we put in there and lifted with some extra cinder blocks. We even put our lawn chairs in because we ibviously wont be using them for awhile lol!! But thankfully it has been dry last couple of days. Good luck and hope it dries out.

 

[muddy75]

How big were the wood chips you tried? I get extra large bark style wood chips. You might be able to put enough of those down to get them out off the mud. How deep is the mud at this point? It might take quite a few bags. If it worked I would try not to walk in the run and your weight would push them down.

I’m having similar problems in so Indiana...have tried wood chips, straw sand , crushed brick,PDz, etc but nothing combats the flooding and associated stench! Just hve to figure out a way to get it dried out! Maybe a roof???? I just turned a fan toward mine to try and help.....have reduced my flock to 9 and maybe reduce even more if can’t get under control

 

[ChickNanny13]

to all of those having to deal with the rain/flooding

 

[BY Bob]

I’m having similar problems in so Indiana...have tried wood chips, straw sand , crushed brick,PDz, etc but nothing combats the flooding and associated stench! Just hve to figure out a way to get it dried out! Maybe a roof???? I just turned a fan toward mine to try and help.....have reduced my flock to 9 and maybe reduce even more if can’t get under control

I roofed my run a couple of years ago as well. Can you put a tarp over it temporarily? Old shower curtains work as well.

 

[ChickNanny13]

I use shower curtains hanging off EMT surrounding my Chicken House for when we get the wind & rain, works great to help keep out the rain. When it rains "forever", it doesn't help the ground wicking the water.

 

[Compost King]

Went through this in NC from August to March... Hurricanes, Thunder Storms and 10 Plus inches of snow in December (unheard of here) with rain 2 out of 3 days through out it all. The worst part is that Mites start infesting coops that could never stay dry because the birds bring in the mud every night. I even disappeared from BYC around January because it was constant work attempting to to create dust bathing areas that chickens would just turn to mud pans and trying to get the water that seeped out of the ground to run off of my flat lot. Start buying up permectrin because the Mites are going to get bad before it dries out.

No matter how much I tried to build up my runs to be well above the ground around them, water kept seeping up. I could not find a solution other than to constantly change out coop bedding. The runs were poopy soups... I could layer an entire run with 6 inches of straw (expensive after a while) and by the end of the day it turned into Poopy Noodle Soup. and with in a week there was no sign straw was ever added. Currently we are dealing with a drought... I even have a Plant nursery where a drought is a Pain in the behind... I welcome the pain of this drought because flooding is 10 times worse.

 

[mixedUPturk]

Anyone?

Hello, unfortunately i have seen my pens look like that in bad weather events. I live in southern Louisiana so 'nuff said. I use the animals to build up the ground by adding layers like a deep bedding system But thisll be made to stay in place. It is dirt in 6 months digging into it you can barely see any of the shavings or smell anything compleatly composted theres just so much Soup in the beginning that its all dirt in no time. When its looked like that i might throw bales of cheap pine shavings into it. I think in your situation being so so wet you Need what another poster suggested, straw. On craigslist you might be able to find someone tryn to sell their hay real cheap because its not good enough for horses anymore. Be careful not to give out mold and poison your birds but might be a cheap alternative to horse hay generally 15$ a square bale down here. That would be a good filler to start with so the mud Cant just soak Everything up. Id pull apart the hay as "flakes" and put down a whole layer as large as each of the pens you need to fix. Then id add as much potting soil and sand as possible. Then more shavings to dry everything, Everything up.

Something i didnt see mentioned. I understand you want to fix this for whats best for your critters but there is a real problem. Feet can rot if they dont get enough time to dry out.

 

[mixedUPturk]

Also need roofs. I have to cover every one of my runs because the rains Will come again. This is only a fix for this time but when more comes, it needs to be a protected place that drains Away. Were digging ditches and a smallish pond because our property is lower than the surroundings.

 

[Trux]

some people last summer were having wet issues and went with bags of pelletized horse bedding you can buy at TSC might be worth a try

 

[ChickNanny13]

Those horse pellets help to absorb the standing water, dissolve to saw dust (?). We had a few days of wet weather and it very helpful. However we are not entering the really wet season = hurricane season; June 1 - Nov 30