Tips on raising the coop floor off of a concrete slab to allow thaw-flood waters to pass underneath

[WhitefaceJS]

Thanks to the location of our barn and enclosed coop, every time the ground thaws (spring and winter thaws) our barn's cement slab-floor has somewhere between a sheen and 3" of water on it and/or flowing across it. The coop is built into the building and I am thinking of raising the coops floor, creating a pass-through area for water to flow through and out of the barn while minimally impacting the chickens and bedding above it. Could anyone give me any ideas on how to do this? I'd like to keep the vast majority of the chicken byproducts out of this space as well, if at all possible.

There is drainpipe in the ground around the outside of the barn to catch the runoff when the ground is thawed, but living in northern New England, that is at maximum 6-7 months of the year.

Thanks!

 

[nuthatched]

Pallets with hardware cloth and plastic drop cloths? Put the bedding on the that

 

[raingarden]

If not pallets you would have to lay down floor joists and sheath it with plywood. How large is it?

 

[Ted Brown]

You have a constant wet/dry cycle, any wood that is placed in that environment is going to deteriorate quickly and you will be in an ongoing build/tear apart cycle. It will be a several year cycle but it will happen.

I would build to avoid this: elevate enough to allow free flow of air underneath, at least a foot perhaps more; use concrete piers to sit in the water; use wood to construct a floor on top of the piers; leave this foundation open around all sides to encourage flow of air; perhaps paint the floor structure with roofing tar or the like on the support frame and underside of floor before assembly.

 

[3KillerBs]

You could build it like any other raised coop, with the space underneath blocked off from chicken access.

use concrete piers to sit in the water;

Good advice.

BUT, an important question,

Isn't there a better place on your property where the chickens could be kept dry?

For some situations the answer to that question is certainly "No, this is the best we have," but if you *can* move the chicken coop to a dry area that would be better for their health over the long term.

 

[aart]

with the space underneath blocked off from chicken access.

Not to mention rodent access.

 

[WhitefaceJS]

You have a constant wet/dry cycle, any wood that is placed in that environment is going to deteriorate quickly and you will be in an ongoing build/tear apart cycle. It will be a several year cycle but it will happen.

I would build to avoid this: elevate enough to allow free flow of air underneath, at least a foot perhaps more; use concrete piers to sit in the water; use wood to construct a floor on top of the piers; leave this foundation open around all sides to encourage flow of air; perhaps paint the floor structure with roofing tar or the like on the support frame and underside of floor before assembly.

Would the 4-6" concrete blocks fill this need you think? I like that idea a lot, actually!

You could build it like any other raised coop, with the space underneath blocked off from chicken access.



Good advice.

BUT, an important question,

Isn't there a better place on your property where the chickens could be kept dry?

For some situations the answer to that question is certainly "No, this is the best we have," but if you *can* move the chicken coop to a dry area that would be better for their health over the long term.

No, it's a fully built, pre-existing barn and the only structure in that area. In order to move it I would have to redo the entire infrastructure and bailout to a point, which would be a PITA and costly, I am trying to do this on as tight a budget as possible while still doing it well.

The entire "lower field" area that the barn is at one corner of is in the foldable state to a point, unless I was able to drag the entire barn up a hill to its (25 year ago) position. However, my goal is to get electricity to it eventually and where it is right now is much better for connectivity as far as I can tell.

So I am thinking that I might either use decking boards or something similar that won't rot quickly and won't hurt the birds if they peck at it on top of the thinner concrete blocks spaced out at intervals.

The coop is somewhere in the neighborhood of 10-14 feet long by 8 or so feet wide, with about a 4 foot overhead. There is a 20 x 10 foot outside run to its West.

Thanks everyone!

 

[Ted Brown]

Would the 4-6" concrete blocks fill this need you think? I like that idea a lot, actually!

I was thinking using concrete blocks when I made the suggestion; they can be stacked.

I have no direct experience with anything similar to your challenge rather just an idea to address the issues you face. You must:

1. Keep the structure, and in turn, the bedding and birds as dry as possible. Using concrete to elevate seems an obvious and cheap solution although do not forget that moisture will wick up through concrete and into anything that sits on top of it therefore you should isolate the concrete using a plastic barrier between the two.
2. Avoid a buildup of mould/mildew/rot under the structure. I suggested using a durable waterproof "paint" to counter this; I also thought airflow would help hence the suggestion to get it as high as practical.

Most critical is get the structure out of any water flow that occurs. You suggested flow as high as 3", in my mind 4" of height is cutting things pretty close.

Even at 4" combined with the floor structure the overall depth is going to exceed a normal ~7" riser height for steps so a small stair to enter or access the coop is probably required; so that is not a factor.

I don't know what your motivation for keeping it at 4" is. It seems to me that having water around for 5-6 months continuously is going to create a cold damp environment underneath, not good for either you or the birds. Higher will encourage more airflow I would think, therefore a better counter to this and to development of mould etc.

FWIW I raised my coop 3'+ feet off the ground but for different reasons. I have no regrets.

Carefully assess your reasons to keep it at 4-6". Unless they are serious I would go higher as you do not want to redo it later.

 

[WhitefaceJS]

I was thinking using concrete blocks when I made the suggestion; they can be stacked.

I have no direct experience with anything similar to your challenge rather just an idea to address the issues you face. You must:

1. Keep the structure, and in turn, the bedding and birds as dry as possible. Using concrete to elevate seems an obvious and cheap solution although do not forget that moisture will wick up through concrete and into anything that sits on top of it therefore you should isolate the concrete using a plastic barrier between the two.
2. Avoid a buildup of mould/mildew/rot under the structure. I suggested using a durable waterproof "paint" to counter this; I also thought airflow would help hence the suggestion to get it as high as practical.

Most critical is get the structure out of any water flow that occurs. You suggested flow as high as 3", in my mind 4" of height is cutting things pretty close.

Even at 4" combined with the floor structure the overall depth is going to exceed a normal ~7" riser height for steps so a small stair to enter or access the coop is probably required; so that is not a factor.

FWIW I raised my coop 3'+ feet off the ground but for different reasons. I have no regrets.

Thank you!

I apparently slightly misled - anytime the ground is solidly frozen but for a short thaw the flow passes by - and through - the barn. This happens maybe 4-5 times between November and May, but in the spring thaw (Mud season around here) it can last for nearly a month.

The limitation of the height is more because of the existing structure - there are a set of 5 roosting boxes mounted about 2' up on the inside wall and an overall height of about 4 feet. While I would love to take down the ceiling and redo the walls so that it is a 10' high coop, that will (most likely) have to wait until my summer break as it is a much bigger project.

I am not a pro at this so will probably leave air gaps where there "shouldn't be" which will help with the airflow.

Thank you for your thoughts.

 

[3KillerBs]

Thank you!

I apparently slightly misled - anytime the ground is solidly frozen but for a short thaw the flow passes by - and through - the barn. This happens maybe 4-5 times between November and May, but in the spring thaw (Mud season around here) it can last for nearly a month.

The limitation of the height is more because of the existing structure - there are a set of 5 roosting boxes mounted about 2' up on the inside wall and an overall height of about 4 feet. While I would love to take down the ceiling and redo the walls so that it is a 10' high coop, that will (most likely) have to wait until my summer break as it is a much bigger project.

I am not a pro at this so will probably leave air gaps where there "shouldn't be" which will help with the airflow.

Thank you for your thoughts.

If you show us some good photos of the structure and it's surrounds from different angles, inside and out, we might be able to make some useful suggestions.