NY chicken lover!!!!

[horsekeeper]

Guys...my chicken coop is flooding! There's a six inch puddle on the silkie/bantam side so I moved those birds in with the big birds. Now the head flock rooster, Tarzan, is chasing the silkie rooster. That side of the coop is not underwater yet...but the entire coop is surrounded by a very deep puddle and its still raining out there. Any suggestions? I can't move the birds to another building...we don't have one. Just a matter of time before the big bird side is underwater, too.

Happened to me last year, too. Get out there with a round pointed shovel and start chipping and carving a channel for the water to run away from the coop. It took me three miserable hours, but I finally got it to run around the corner of the coop and down the hill. This year I dug a small ditch just before the ground froze and there is a place for it to go.

 

[jmdarrow]

Hi everyone! I brought my silkies in Sunday morning. They were doing great but their feathers on their heads were frosty. They stayed in til yesterday afternoon. I can tell you six rooster in the basement was quite obnoxious. Every time they heard my voice they crowed. It was very hard to be quiet, but I managed, much to the relief of my husband. I'm glad everything worked out for us. Have a great day!

 

[Glasshen]

Yes, well, even with insulation, apparently it got quite cold in the coop. Earl was in because the girls had his comb bleeding, but he didn't crow until 7, so that was quite considerate. I just gave him a closer exam to be sure he could go back out. Nope. He has some blisters forming on his comb that weren't there yesterday, and white patches on his wattles that are swollen. Frost bite. Perhaps some of it was induced by having the seeping blood cooling the comb, but the wattles are probably because he is a SS, and his wattles are lovely and large, and he gets them in the water. So, who needs an alarm clock anyway?

 

[shodack]

Hi everyone! I brought my silkies in Sunday morning. They were doing great but their feathers on their heads were frosty. They stayed in til yesterday afternoon. I can tell you six rooster in the basement was quite obnoxious. Every time they heard my voice they crowed. It was very hard to be quiet, but I managed, much to the relief of my husband. I'm glad everything worked out for us. Have a great day!

Too funny!!!

 

[Sweetpea3829]

Happened to me last year, too. Get out there with a round pointed shovel and start chipping and carving a channel for the water to run away from the coop. It took me three miserable hours, but I finally got it to run around the corner of the coop and down the hill. This year I dug a small ditch just before the ground froze and there is a place for it to go.

The flooding around the coop is too extensive. I dug as much of a channel as I could but it wasn't much...lol. I began using a bucket to haul water out from around the coop but...there's SO much water. I ended up soaked and the water was still bubbling up from the ground.

The coop sits in this very small indentation in the ground. It's a very small indentation, but it's enough.

Well...if there's anything good from this, perhaps Rosco rat didn't fare so well. The bulk of the flooding is right where he tends to dig. I hope it flooded right through and soaked him good.

Actually, come to think of it, I haven't seen much sign of Rosco in the last...almost...a week.

 

[horsekeeper]

The flooding around the coop is too extensive. I dug as much of a channel as I could but it wasn't much...lol. I began using a bucket to haul water out from around the coop but...there's SO much water. I ended up soaked and the water was still bubbling up from the ground.

The coop sits in this very small indentation in the ground. It's a very small indentation, but it's enough.

Well...if there's anything good from this, perhaps Rosco rat didn't fare so well. The bulk of the flooding is right where he tends to dig. I hope it flooded right through and soaked him good.

Actually, come to think of it, I haven't seen much sign of Rosco in the last...almost...a week.

Funny you should mention that. While I was out doing something around the coops last year there was a scary big thunderstorm with an absolute downpour so I took shelter in the chicken house until it let up some. While I was looking out the back window toward the pens I saw two big rats come shooting out from underneath the coop where the water was running into their tunnels and under the coop. There was so much water that it must have flooded them out. They tried running down the bank in the pen and came up against the pen and then panicked and tried to chew their way out instead of climbing the fence, and I found them drowned the next day. I was surprised because everything is on a hillside and the water was only a few inches deep at the end of the pen where the chickens had scratched enough debris to temporarily dam up the water. It was coming down so hard there was a mini flash flood for about 10 minutes.

It's tough when the ground is frozen and water can't sink in. If my ditch was full of snow and ice I would be out there chopping again. The chickens have raised the ground level in front of the coop by about 6 inches by scratching around on the hillside above it and it is even with the doorway. One of this year's projects is to dig it back out and terrace the hillside so I can plant something to keep the dirt in place and fence them away from it.

 

[tao chick]

The flooding around the coop is too extensive.  I dug as much of a channel as I could but it wasn't much...lol.  I began using a bucket to haul water out from around the coop but...there's SO much water.  I ended up soaked and the water was still bubbling up from the ground.  

The coop sits in this very small indentation in the ground.  It's a very small indentation, but it's enough.  

Well...if there's anything good from this, perhaps Rosco rat didn't fare so well.  The bulk of the flooding is right where he tends to dig.  I hope it flooded right through and soaked him good.  

Actually, come to think of it, I haven't seen much sign of Rosco in the last...almost...a week.  

Do you have a folding table that would fit in the coop? It could create a new floor for them for the day. Or pallets or something to make a higher floor and allow water to sit below until it drains.

 

[rancher hicks]

Guys...my chicken coop is flooding! There's a six inch puddle on the silkie/bantam side so I moved those birds in with the big birds. Now the head flock rooster, Tarzan, is chasing the silkie rooster. That side of the coop is not underwater yet...but the entire coop is surrounded by a very deep puddle and its still raining out there. Any suggestions? I can't move the birds to another building...we don't have one. Just a matter of time before the big bird side is underwater, too.

Happened to me last year, too. Get out there with a round pointed shovel and start chipping and carving a channel for the water to run away from the coop. It took me three miserable hours, but I finally got it to run around the corner of the coop and down the hill. This year I dug a small ditch just before the ground froze and there is a place for it to go.

Just my input. I would try to survive the winter. IF you can't make amendments now.

Some ideas?

Buy some gravel and dump it in there for now. Then next year jack up the coop and build a berm.

Shovel as much snow as you can to the side of the coop and then slide it to higher ground. Do you have pics. They would help us get an idea.

Dump gravel, sand, any soil and/or bales and bales of shavings and straw you can get your hands on in there. TSC has sand. CM has straw and hay. They just had shavings on sale but are still cheaper than TSC.

Jack up the coop and build a sort of raised bed bigger than the foot print of the coop. Fill it in and lower the coop.

Sometimes when I have an idea, I just google it. Chances are someone else will have had the same idea. CL is a great place to get free cement blocks and lumber to build that raised bed to set your coop on. I can not dig but I can take my time to build a raised bed.

 

[tao chick]

It's coming down pretty hard out there. I should be catching up on housework, but instead I took a fresh bag of shavings to the coop. They had been hanging out in the nest boxes so I freshened them up. I ran out of feather fixer so threw some starter/grower in their feeders and they LOVED it. I'll pick up more layer or feather fixer tomorrow.

I have 13 eggs in the incubator and I'm debating how I'm going to build the next one. I've been waiting for some free materials to be posted on craigslist. Ideally I'd be able to incubate as many as a hovabator but built with materials I have on hand.

 

[rancher hicks]

FYI,

I did NOT clean off the car today because the snow would protect it from the ice and any ice that is coming. DW did but now it's snowing pretty good so maybe there'll be snow on the car in the morning with ice on top.

One hint on Yahoo said to use Vinegar to clean the ice off your window. DO NOT use vinegar on your car. Vinegar is an acid and will eat your paint. Instead be patient and give your vehicle time to warm up.

Two: DO NOT snap your wipers to clean them. DD did and now she needs a new windshield.

I'm glad I snowblowed even though there wasn't much snow. It was wet and heavy snow. I had to clean out the chute a few times. IF you need to clean out the chute on your snowblower PLEASE turn the machine off and do it carefully. If you get hurt, I'll kill you.