Keepin water from coming in coop?

[colbye12]

We have a run that has a very bad mud We have about a 60 degree hill on the left side that alot of water runs done. We a mix og hay/straw and wood shavings and it just washes to one side and out of the run. Is there any way to fix this?

 

[kcsunshine]

I'm in the same boat (no pun intended) except mine is flat and water won't run away from the coop and run, just runs into it. I'm waiting for a spell of nice weather (What's that?) and I'm going to put rock and sand in there after I dig out all the mess. For now I have put down some large pieces of plastic shelving to keep their feet out of the water. I had leaves and straw in there and now it's a mess. Yuk! They fuss at me everytime I go down there.

Edited to add: You need to dig trenches to take water away. With the kind of rain we've had lately I don't even know if that would help. Sorry

 

[MissJenny]

A French drain was made for this as well as other aggravating water situations. Essentially dig trench some 12" deep and fill with gravel to circumvent the water. If water is coming down a hillside and flooding your coop, the trench needs to be as long as that side of you coop and maybe a little more.

I wish you luck,
Jenny

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'll give a link to Pat's Muddy Run page. It may help.

Muddy Run
https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=1642-fix-a-muddy-run

I'd suggest interrupting and redirecting the water before it gets into your run if possible. If you dig a shallow swale on the uphill side of your run and throw the extra dirt next to your run, you can maybe divert the water. I did that with mine but I had a bobcat here doing other work so it was easy. In the mud, it would not be easy or fun.

Good luck!!!

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
If I understand right, your main problem is water flowing down the hill and washing into/across the run? Your best hope of a solution would be to dig a swale (wide shallow trench) just outside the run on the side that has the hill, so that the swale is intercepting the water and directing it harmlessly away elsewhere. While a bobcat or sumpin' like that makes the job much easier and quicker (also messier), especially if the run is relatively long, this is absolutely 100% something you can do by hand with a shovel. You will probably start with a too-narrow too-shallow ditch, but it will be better than nothing, and you can continually enlarge it as time and energy permit, until it seems to be doing an adequate job. If erosion in the swale is a problem, seed it with grass during the non-floody season, and/or put down gravel or etc. to limit erosion.

Mind, this assumes there IS some 'harmlessly elsewhere' for you to direct the water TO... usually you can, but if the coop is at the lowest part of the landscape, you may be stuck with the ultimate Plan B which is to raise the level of the run up above the level of the flood. The cheapest aggregate you can buy by the truckload is usually called 'roadbase' or something like that (here, it is "A aggregate") -- it is a mix of dirt and sand and small gravel and big gravel, and is pretty cheap by the truck dumpload. Build short STRONGLY ANCHORED retaining walls and fill with roadbase, or sand or non-sharp gravel or whatever, til the run is high enough that the water pools *around* it not in it.

Good luck, have fun (er, maybe not "fun", but anyhow good luck

),

Pat

 

[colbye12]

Thanks to all