Need some advice ! Coop starting to smell strong ammonia and parts coop getting damp

[Ted Brown]

If you do not use drop boards with PDZ and remove droppings every morning I very much recommend it. Most chicken waste is dropped overnight while on the roosts.

You have to fix whatever is leaking, wet nesting boxes and coops will affect the health of your birds very quickly and your climate likely gets freezing weather; a frozen environment will make things even worse.

 

[CluckerFamily]

I'm wondering where the leakage is coming from and what your nesting box setup looks like. If you have the nesting boxes off the side of the coop, maybe you need a bigger roof for the nesting box part or an added gutter type material at the hinge if your nesting boxes open from the top.

 

[3KillerBs]

Where is the water leakage coming from?

Is it the join between the nest box and the coop? In the main section of the roof? Coming in at your vent holes because the roof overhang is not sufficient to shelter them from wind-driven rain?

It's quite difficult to waterproof the joint of a top-opening nest box. That's why I changed to a front-opening design when we remodeled the Little Monitor Coop.

From this:

To this:

Joining a roof to a vertical surface without allowing leaks is a challenge for the amateur handyman. You need to have the proper flashing and install it into the siding correctly. DH did it right, but at some point the nestbox roof was damaged (possibly during Hurricane Florence), and then it leaked. That's why we decided to change it.