NY chicken lover!!!!

[shodack]

I must say, despite having such a mild winter, I haven't been handling this weather well. I want to bury my head and not look out again until mid-April. February always drags on so...

 

[horsekeeper]

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

Yes, I learned my lesson the first time and built the next coop up on a framework of landscape ties so it wouldn't flood.

 

[Sweetpea3829]

Here's my coop...obviously not a picture from today...lol.




The water is all along that side (not the windows side...though there's some ponding there too) and around the back. The door to the coop is on the opposite side of the windows. Hubby put a french drain in front of the door, oh...two years ago or so. He's out there now trying to clear it so the water will drain. But that won't take care of the water on the blank wall side. The coop will not survive being lifted or moved. It's a pretty old building.


You can't see the slope well in the first one...and I don't have many pictures that do show the slope. Except for this one with the muddy kids. So look past the muddy kids!

 

[Sweetpea3829]

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.

I had to laugh...lol! The visual of two rats scrambling to evade flooding waters.

I seriously hope Rosco meets his demise with this flooding. Because that stupid rat has driven me nuts ALL winter and I've about had it with him and his tunneling and avoidance of all traps and baits.

 

[tao chick]

Here's my coop...obviously not a picture from today...lol. The water is all along that side (not the windows side...though there's some ponding there too) and around the back. The door to the coop is on the opposite side of the windows. Hubby put a french drain in front of the door, oh...two years ago or so. He's out there now trying to clear it so the water will drain. But that won't take care of the water on the blank wall side. The coop will not survive being lifted or moved. It's a pretty old building. You can't see the slope well in the first one...and I don't have many pictures that do show the slope. Except for this one with the muddy kids. So look past the muddy kids!

I know it's not the time for this, but a french drain works best if you can catch the water on the highest side and take it away from the coop. Another idea is building up around the high side so water doesn't collect next to the coop foundation where it freezes thaws and floods. I'm going to brainstorm ideas for you but for now a temporary floor and increasing the french drain in the spring is the best I have.

 

[Sweetpea3829]

Hubby dug out the french drain in front of the coop and said the water began draining off immediately. So yay!

Going to have to work on that in the spring.

Now...aside from a temporary floor in there...I'm assuming ALL shavings need to be removed, yes? Should I leave any of the "seasoned" shavings or just start afresh?

 

[tao chick]

Hubby dug out the french drain in front of the coop and said the water began draining off immediately.  So yay! 

Going to have to work on that in the spring.  

Now...aside from a temporary floor in there...I'm assuming ALL shavings need to be removed, yes?  Should I leave any of the "seasoned" shavings or just start afresh?  

Yay! Glad to hear it. Good question. Is it a dirt floor underneath? I might take out most of the soaking wet stuff and waiting until tomorrow to add fresh, allowing water to drain off more. I don't know what the forecast says about the driest day.

 

[Sweetpea3829]

Yeah its dirt....we can't pull the bedding out for at least another day anyways.

Going to be a fairly big task...especially with all the snow.

 

[Beau Garden]

Hey NY chicken friends.
I moved to the Capitol district area recently from ID and I'm looking to rebuild our chicken life. We're planning on getting chicks but curious where to go. I'd prefer to support local farmers and/or 4H kids. We are doing it for eggs and have a few breeds we'd like to try plus some old favorites. Any advice or locals you can hook me up with? I haven't contacted 4h yet but I have their information.

 

[tao chick]

Yeah its dirt....we  can't pull the bedding out for at least another day anyways.  

Going to be a fairly big task...especially with all the snow.  

I guess the biggest problem would be if any of your chickens decide not to roost. The humidity in the coop may cause some frostbite too. I wish I had better answers. Good luck!