Oh liqui- .. you get the idea

[Ascholten]

Just had about 4 inches of rain fall in about an hour.
The yard is a swamp.
Enough that it actually overflowed INTO the chicken coop, into the covered, roosting, SUPPOSED TO BE DRY side.
The deep mulch, everything, is soaked.
Im going to have to change all that out tomorrow and try to dry it out a bit.

Besides for maybe bleach and a good airing out, anything else I should watch out for in them once Im done with that. Like any potential new chicken problems etc.

Thanks in advance.
Aaron

 

[3KillerBs]

Oh my!

As long as they're up on their roosts out of the sogginess and it's not a cold, howling wind they should be OK getting wet feet on their way out in the morning.

If you can get it dry quickly bleach shouldn't be necessary.

If their run is still soggy you can put pallets down to give them something to stand on out of the wet.

 

[Ascholten]

IM going to free range them tomorrow. NOT feed them and make them come take it out of my hand. I have a broody one who is being a real pain. She's skittish to begin with and needs to go into the broody cage, but catching her. I give it to about noon tomorrow and she'll be real happy to eat out of my hand then I can snatch her up and cage her.

Its drying out now, the rain was just so much it inundated everything. Should not be too big a problem drying out BUT, we have a tropical storm heading in too in a day, so this at least gave me a heads up what could possibly happen and until all that crap passes I think Ill heft the coop up onto a few pallets to keep it dry. Worse case if it looks like this storm is actually going to tag us and be bad, Ill put them in the master shower for the day / night. It's got a grow light in it and worse case, put them back outside, turn it on with hot water and a broom and any messes go right down the drain, and it keeps them safe from hurricane winds. This coming week is going to be interesting for sure.

Aaron

 

[3KillerBs]

She's skittish to begin with and needs to go into the broody cage, but catching her.

I admit that I only have one broody's worth of experience, but I was able to pick her out of the nest, tuck her under my arm, and take her to the cage.

I think Ill heft the coop up onto a few pallets to keep it dry.

Good idea.

Maybe once the weather improves you could trade that for a permanent set of concrete block pillars?

 

[Ascholten]

This chicken coop / tractor is kind of ratty, not worth putting on blocks, been trying to get a permanent one built but getting someone to, ugh. Price of lumber is stupid insane as well. But this is more incentive to go and get the job done.

THis one is not one of those you pick up and give a big snuggle hug. She's skittish, she'll jump away in a millisecond BUT once you do get her, she loves the attention and will hang around and not put up a fight, go figure. My AC died last night, I'll be needing a new one, in Florida, AC is a must, soooo.... that is priority 1 today. sigh.

Aaro

 

[3KillerBs]

This chicken coop / tractor is kind of ratty, not worth putting on blocks, been trying to get a permanent one built but getting someone to, ugh. Price of lumber is stupid insane as well. But this is more incentive to go and get the job done.

THis one is not one of those you pick up and give a big snuggle hug. She's skittish, she'll jump away in a millisecond BUT once you do get her, she loves the attention and will hang around and not put up a fight, go figure. My AC died last night, I'll be needing a new one, in Florida, AC is a must, soooo.... that is priority 1 today. sigh.

Aaro

Sorry you're having a rough time.

My broody isn't a cuddle either, but I was able to restrain her without being bitten. My box open on the side not the top so I pulled her out backwards. After making sure she didn't have an egg under her wing.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Inches of rainfall in an hour will overwhelm most efforts to keep a run dry. Prevention only gets you so far.

Now we move to mitigation. Deep litter helps by effectively raising the level of the floor.

Adjusting the topography of the coop and run is the next step in a good chicken-housing situation, such that when water does intrude it wants to run out. Which method works best for you depends on existing slopes and soil conditions. In my own case, some swales and berms help direct water away from the coop (important as its "downhill", so rainwater naturally wants to flow towards it). Using deep litter composting and some shovel work, I've managed to raise the level of my raised coop, so that water wants to flow out from under it. Largely, the same happens in my new (larger) run, but the old (original, smaller) run is trapped between some earthworks. I ended up digging a shallow "pond" to direct water into, and then trenched it deeply outwards towards my actual duck pond. It was easier to dig a ditch then try to move a hill.