New coop flooded, now what?

[WIRuby]

Hi, I am new to chickens and this site. My chicks are still in the house (3 weeks old) so everyone is dry and warm. We built our coop by partitioning off part of a large shed. The shed floor on that side was traffic bond, and we planned to do deep litter, but the spring flooding made us realize we needed a floor. One handy husband later, we have a floating wood floor with plastic underneath the sleepers, and the wood coated with a sealant similar to blackjack 57. My question is, can we still use the pine shavings we had to shovel out if we can dry them out to the just damp stage? I'd hate to waste all those shavings, and I wondered if a little moisture might be ok for the whole composting idea. I appreciate any thoughts,
Thanks!

 

[Mtn Laurel]

IMO, it's not worth the chance. I don't know if pine shavings will mold but that's the last thing you want around birds as mold can sicken and kill them. If it were me, I'd throw the old shavings in the compost pile and start fresh. At least you'll get some use out of them as compost so they're not a total waste.

Should one of your chickens get sick and/or die - no matter the reason - you'll be kicking yourself for not removing the damp shavings.

 

[justplainbatty]

If you can sun dry them (if it's not windy) that will be ok. you really have to work at it to have moldy pine shavings. Stir, fluff, fan, sun, oven, low temp dryer, whatever.

 

[PapaChaz]

If you can sun dry them (if it's not windy) that will be ok. you really have to work at it to have moldy pine shavings. Stir, fluff, fan, sun, oven, low temp dryer, whatever.

yup, spread em out on a tarp or a piece of plastic in the sun. Go out every couple hours and shake em up, flip em, stir em.....it's really amazing how quickly the sun can and will dry something out

 

[WIRuby]

Thanks,
That is what we are doing, but rain is expected tomorrow evening. I hope I can get them dry before then! I don't think I'll risk my dryer though!

I appreciate the advice, I wish we had realized how bad the spring flooding would wick up from underneath the floor, although we did have 3 inches of rain in 24 hours, so it shouldn't have been a big surprise! I guess better now while the coop is empty!