Rain in the Run

[Calhoun-Chick]

It has been raining non-stop here in SW Ohio. We've has flash floods everyday this week. And the run is flooded. Half of the run is covered with a tin roof, half is covered with just hardware cloth.
The covered part is in worse condition that the open half. I suppose the sun can dry it out. (Not that I've seen the sun!) I'm also guessing the run slopes down, especially in this corner. In the picture you can see the big puddle. This was taken (a few weeks ago) as soon as I got home from work, to check on the girls, to make sure they weren't floating! At this point, the rain barrel was overflowing right into that puddle. We have fixed that problem, but it is still just standing STINKY water, sand, mud, and poop. We recently revamped the run. Shoveled out straw from the winter (my bad) and shoveled in a truck load of sand. I love the sand!!! But now its about 5 inches of squishy, smelly muck, that I can't bare to leave the girls in. They are currently free ranging alone, while we are at work.
I am desperate for advice on how to fix the water/muck issue, and hoping to figure out a plan to prevent this from happening again. I will try to take a more recent pic of how bad it really is. I'm so sad, and feel helpless!
I'm thinking we could put in pvc pipe to drain the water into the woods. But then what? Do we just dump new sand/natural mulch on top of the muck yuck? Or do we have to shovel it all out before replacing it with new material.
Thank you in advance!

 

[Thyme4Chickens]

I am so sorry for you! We got flooded last summer; it was horrible.

Can you post more pics of your yard? Is the coop/run already on the highest spot? If not, is moving it a possibility?

I'm wondering if a big load of woodchips in the run might be a temporary fix, but I'm hoping more experienced folks will chime in!

 

[Calhoun-Chick]

I am so sorry for you! We got flooded last summer; it was horrible.

Can you post more pics of your yard? Is the coop/run already on the highest spot? If not, is moving it a possibility?

I'm wondering if a big load of woodchips in the run might be a temporary fix, but I'm hoping more experienced folks will chime in!

Thank you!
Yes, I will post more pics tonight. It is on the highest spot. Our yard sloped down from there. I think with this much rain, there is really no getting around it, but I do need a temporary fix, because it is miserable.
I was thinking wood chips also. Yesterday I put down about a half bag of pine shavings left over from our brooder box, it didn't make a dent! Thinking of going to a saw mill or something like that and seeing if we can get a ton.

 

[ChickNanny13]

The same thing happened to me last year We got so much rain the ground was saturated ... The water flowing to one side of their area, I dug a hole/drain under front corner to drain the water. Had some vinyl planks made a tunnel over the side where the water was collecting & flowing out to the drain ... Temporary fix cause it was storming. I had them in my patio brooder but they got cabin fever after a few days, so put them back out and kept adding more shavings as needed but no more mucky mess. Once the rain stopped, found dry rot so check your base boards where the water collects.

This year we had some soaking, entering our stormy season now, used the horse pellets to absorb the water, works great. You can either shovel it out or leave it, I just let them blend into their shavings. I wish I could get natural dried wood chips, would love to try that in their area. Have thought of trying the ones you buy at HD/Lowes but they've probably been color treated, unsure if it would be safe for the girls.

Following to see what others have to say

 

[rosemarythyme]

If you have pallets, scrap wood, anything larger like that, that's what I'd throw in for now, just to provide the birds an elevated dry surface to use. Barring that, if you have a large amount of bedding that could build up the floor of the run by several inches, that could also work as a temporary fix.

 

[Calhoun-Chick]

Thank you!
Yes, I will post more pics tonight. It is on the highest spot. Our yard sloped down from there. I think with this much rain, there is really no getting around it, but I do need a temporary fix, because it is miserable.
I was thinking wood chips also. Yesterday I put down about a half bag of pine shavings left over from our brooder box, it didn't make a dent! Thinking of going to a saw mill or something like that and seeing if we can get a ton.

 

[jthornton]

Can you make the rain barrel not dump water into the run? Do you have nice big overhangs on the run to keep water out?

JT

 

[Henriettamom919]

Not sure how your yard slopes but I'd think you could siphon some of that out with a garden hose. Set one end in the deepest part then run down hill away from the coop and *hopefully* it will self start drain. If not get a bottle that fits over the far end and start suctioning (not even going to lie, I'd just suck on the end to get it going but I realize not everyone rolls as hardcore/gross as I do )

Once you've removed as much water as possible get a couple bales of pine shavings and start laying them down, raking up and replacing until the situation improves.

Good luck!!!!

 

[Henriettamom919]

Also, you could rent a water/flood pump. My local Home Depot lists it for 33.00$ a day! We had to do that Once when our septic field flooded

It'll have that water gone in an hour!

 

[twendt]

I feel your pain! I put straw down in the winter because I read on this site, that someone put it over the snow so their girls would come out of the coop/run. What a total mess in the spring!! I had a small pre-fab coop/run. I decided I needed to take matters into my own hands!! Studied plans, YouTube vids, tips on this site. I decided to sort of copy the Wichita coop. A tall order for a girl who never really built anything before. Hubby said "it's your project for YOUR chickens!!" My 13 yr old Daughter as my apprentice and the occasional muscle from my 19yr old Son, we built this.