Managing my chickens/run to avoid disease.

[LER23]

Here in the Willamette Valley in Oregon (rumor has it that Native Americans called it "the valley of sickness and death") I am sitting and listening to the drip of steady rain this morning. The dogs are asleep, and chickens came out once to look around, then went straight back into their coop. I started thinking about the girls and, since I am new to keeping chickens, I thought I would come to you with the questions that are coming up for me:

I have 6 pullets in a 5' by 8' coop with a couple of levels/roosts. They have an 8' by 25' + run, with an 8' sheet of plywood on sawhorses as a temporary "covered porch" where the big feeder is. Inside the coop they have a food bowl and a waterer. Except for dry outdoor space, which I hope to address this fall, I think I have the bases covered, BUT the rainy wetness of our winters here in OR have me wondering if anyone has tips for flock mgt., coop and run mgt., or any preventative flock mgt. in regard to preventing illness and disease. Oh, yes, we have orchard netting above the run to prevent wild birds coming in to eat, but the chickens do free range in the backyard a couple of hours a day, weather permitting.
Any and all comments welcome. Criticism will not be viewed as hostile or unkind.

TIA!

 

[aart]

Sounds like you have it covered(or will soon once the run is covered).
Do you have good ventilation in the coop?
Does the run hold water in puddles with all that rain?
What kind of bedding do you have in the run?
Some pics of coop and run, inside and out, might help here.

 

[DLA]

Covering the run and putting in drainage ditches to direct the water away from there so it's not damp and soggy in there all the time would probably be a good preventative step to take.

 

[LER23]

Sounds like you have it covered(or will soon once the run is covered).
Do you have good ventilation in the coop?
Does the run hold water in puddles with all that rain?
What kind of bedding do you have in the run?

There are a couple of places that might start to puddle. When I clean the coop I am planning on distributing the old bedding, which is fir shavings from a carpenter friend, throughout the run. I also seem to have a boatload of molehills, in the run are only, since I created their coop and run. Fir bark is 3 to 5" deep in the coop. Plenty of airflow-too much, actually, I suspect. I will address the lower draughts, which are many, by caulking small gaps in the horizontal siding boards. I will leave the airflow up higher. Everything in OR seems to stay damp all winter. Should I put a little space heater in near them? Their coop is one half of a shed, so I could put one in the shed side, aimed at them, for an hour or 2 every day when I am home to supervise. Good or bad idea?

 

[LER23]

Covering the run and putting in drainage ditches to direct the water away from there so it's not damp and soggy in there all the time would probably be a good preventative step to take.

Thanks. My husband will be thrilled to hear that he has a new project, lol!

 

[DLA]

There are a couple of places that might start to puddle. When I clean the coop I am planning on distributing the old bedding, which is fir shavings from a carpenter friend, throughout the run. I also seem to have a boatload of molehills, in the run are only, since I created their coop and run. Fir bark is 3 to 5" deep in the coop. Plenty of airflow-too much, actually, I suspect. I will address the lower draughts, which are many, by caulking small gaps in the horizontal siding boards. I will leave the airflow up higher. Everything in OR seems to stay damp all winter. Should I put a little space heater in near them? Their coop is one half of a shed, so I could put one in the shed side, aimed at them, for an hour or 2 every day when I am home to supervise. Good or bad idea?

Introducing a heater around chickens and bedding is generally a bad idea.

 

[LER23]

Introducing a heater around chickens and bedding is generally a bad idea.

Lol, thanks for convincing me not to do that.

 

[aart]

Plenty of airflow-too much, actually, I suspect. I will address the lower draughts, which are many, by caulking small gaps in the horizontal siding boards. I will leave the airflow up higher. Everything in OR seems to stay damp all winter.

I would only caulk the ones right next to the roosts.
Due to the dampness, best to have those small air flows open.

Should I put a little space heater in near them? Their coop is one half of a shed, so I could put one in the shed side, aimed at them, for an hour or 2 every day when I am home to supervise. Good or bad idea?

Bad idea.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Covering the run and putting in drainage ditches to direct the water away from there so it's not damp and soggy in there all the time would probably be a good preventative step to take.

Covering isn't a bad idea, due to avian influenza. And if mud or puddling is an issue, drainage should be addressed. That said, chickens don't melt, even if they don't like getting wet, and a bit of rain won't hurt them any as long as they have places they can shelter as needed and a surface dry floor to stand on.

Otherwise the only real thing you need to do as far as their health is keep an eye on them and look for any changes in behavior or appearance to indicate if anything's wrong. You can also do periodic health checks to make sure the birds are a good weight, no obvious skin issues, leg/foot issues, etc.

 

[LER23]

Thanks. It's pretty wet in their run and I think I do need to develop dryer ground. Not sure how. But as soon as I have a dry couple of hours I need to clean the coop and they'll get a couple of inches of fir shavings. I thought about some gravel, but I think that sounds a little boring for the chickens. I can't cover the run for a while, so if you have any temporary solutions I would love to hear them. Right now I am relying on their common sense. They like to forage in the grass of the yard and I try to give them 2 to 4 hours a day out there. When they are in the run they stay under the 4 square feet or so of dry ground I provide under the sheet of plywood I put out.