Soaked Coop Floor!! Help!

[brownrhi]

I have 8 chickens and it is winter here so I am having to keep them cooped up most everyday/week besides when it thaws and the snow is melted. The coop floor (plywood) and shavings always are wet. I add more shavings every couple days as the deep liter method suggests but the floor boards are saturated now and drying the coop out seems impossible. I have noticed some sneezing so I really need to figure out a way to give them a drier environment before they all become ill/die

Thanks for any suggestions!!

 

[Percheron chick]

Where is the moisture coming from? Sounds like the melting snow is finding it's way inside. Waterers?

 

[brownrhi]

I think it's their water spilling. The center of the coop where their water is seems to be the most saturated.their water hangs also so it may be getting bumped around.

 

[junebuggena]

Get the water out of the coop. It's causing more problems than it's solving. Also, give your birds the choice to outside of the coop. Snow and cold won't hurt them. That damp coop will.

 

[brownrhi]

I typically leave the door open for them to be in or out all day. I wonder if there is a better waterer to buy that won't spill as much?

 

[aart]

I typically leave the door open for them to be in or out all day. I wonder if there is a better waterer to buy that won't spill as much?

Welcome to BYC!

Not hanging the waterer would help, I put mine on a concrete block.
But depends on the type of waterer and your coop layout.
Can you post pics of both?

 

[moving coops]

Also vent at top off coop to let moisture out does help!

 

[brownrhi]

Today we put the waterer on a block to see if that helps. We have the 3 gal. waterer that needs to be plugged in as we live in MI and the water freezes. I think I need more ventilation to help air the coop out quicker though! Thanks for the feedback!!

 

[aart]

Today we put the waterer on a block to see if that helps. We have the 3 gal. waterer that needs to be plugged in as we live in MI and the water freezes. I think I need more ventilation to help air the coop out quicker though! Thanks for the feedback!!

It should definitely help...... unless they can jump on it and knock it over....or your coop is so crowded that it can still get bumped and slosh or fall.
Gonna be hard for things to dry out, it's so humid right now.......course it may freeze up before it dries out, temps are quickly dropping again.
Where in MI are you?

Think about switching to horizontal nipples before next winter.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/aarts-heated-waterer-with-horizontal-nipples

 

[ChickenMammX4]

I would get the waterer out of the coop. We keep the water in the run. It's plugged into an outlet inside via a hole just large enough to pass the plug through. Would that work with your set-up? We tried having the water in the coop but even sitting on bricks they managed to knock it over a few times.