I'm also in MA and we've had almost 7" of rain in the past two weeks. I had to evacuate the chickens during the hurricane and put them in the garage until the rain stopped. This week we had the other hurricane or it's remnants and 3 days of heavy rain. The coop is total muck and smelly too. Ours is not covered, but will be soon!
For the short term, I cleaned out all the mucky straw and rotten wet food that they'd spilled. Then I dumped two bales of dried peat moss. I didn't even have to spread it out. The minute the chickens saw the dirt, they gave up eating (imagine that!) and started scratching and rolling in the peat moss. I figured it's really dry stuff and it' will take a while to soak up the moisture. Next we are getting gravel and sand to put in to improve the drainage. We'll also be trying a drainage ditch along the side to see if that helps. We are on a hill in what used to be apple orchard. Apparently there is a naturally occuring spring a couple of houses up and it just over flows into our backyard and chicken pen when it rains.
Good luck at keeping your girls dry!
Deb
For the short term, I cleaned out all the mucky straw and rotten wet food that they'd spilled. Then I dumped two bales of dried peat moss. I didn't even have to spread it out. The minute the chickens saw the dirt, they gave up eating (imagine that!) and started scratching and rolling in the peat moss. I figured it's really dry stuff and it' will take a while to soak up the moisture. Next we are getting gravel and sand to put in to improve the drainage. We'll also be trying a drainage ditch along the side to see if that helps. We are on a hill in what used to be apple orchard. Apparently there is a naturally occuring spring a couple of houses up and it just over flows into our backyard and chicken pen when it rains.
Good luck at keeping your girls dry!
Deb
