Tropical weather coop & keeping it dry

[felys]

I stay in a tropical country. So it rains a lot. A good thing about the weather is that we don't have winter and temperatures stay in the range of about 23 Celsius (night) to about 35 Celsius (day).

My coop is in my fenced garden. I'm having a problem keeping the floors dry. It gets really muddy when it rains. It used to have grass when we build the coop but once the chickens moved in, it disappeared. Now all that is left is soil.

We let the chickens run free in the garden and they go into the coop at night or when it rains. All in all, we have 25 chickens & chicks.

The problem is that:

(1) large amounts of wood chips or pine shavings are not available here. They are sold in small amounts and are not budget friendly especially if I want to cover large areas.

(2) with the amount of rain that we get, I'm not sure if sand will be a good idea. During monsoon season, we get heavy rain almost every day for weeks. When it's not monsoon, it usually rains once a week.

(3) We don't fully cover the coop with walls at all sides because it gets so hot, open sides keep the temperature down. So having a fully enclosed coop is not possible. We sometimes have to keep them in the coop.

Does anyone have any ideas? How do you all have your coop designed if you stay in a tropical area? Please do share. Thank you

I'll attach photos later when I'm out there.

 

[3KillerBs]

Can you dig a drainage ditch to direct water away from the coop to help it dry out?

Is there any kind of dry plant material you can reasonably get? Dry leaves? Straw? Yard and garden waste?

If there are plenty of places for the chickens to get up off the floor so that they don't have to stand in the mud all the time and these birds are of breeds native to your area they'll probably be fine as long as it's only the floor that's wet and they're not getting wet sitting up on their perches.

 

[felys]

Can you dig a drainage ditch to direct water away from the coop to help it dry out?

Is there any kind of dry plant material you can reasonably get? Dry leaves? Straw? Yard and garden waste?

If there are plenty of places for the chickens to get up off the floor so that they don't have to stand in the mud all the time and these birds are of breeds native to your area they'll probably be fine as long as it's only the floor that's wet and they're not getting wet sitting up on their perches.

They have perches and nesting boxes that are away from the rain.

The water does drain pretty well... It's just that with repeated rain, the ground stays muddy for a long time. And when they move around, it's gets really messy. And it's really slippery. Like a mud bath...

I'm wondering if filling the area with stones /gravel would be ok... Or would it be bad for the chickens? Will it hurt them when they walk on it?

 

[Brooks_]

They have perches and nesting boxes that are away from the rain.

The water does drain pretty well... It's just that with repeated rain, the ground stays muddy for a long time. And when they move around, it's gets really messy. And it's really slippery. Like a mud bath...

I'm wondering if filling the area with stones /gravel would be ok... Or would it be bad for the chickens? Will it hurt them when they walk on it?

It won't necessarily hurt them, but will be very hard to control odor.

 

[3KillerBs]

They have perches and nesting boxes that are away from the rain.

The water does drain pretty well... It's just that with repeated rain, the ground stays muddy for a long time. And when they move around, it's gets really messy. And it's really slippery. Like a mud bath...

I'm wondering if filling the area with stones /gravel would be ok... Or would it be bad for the chickens? Will it hurt them when they walk on it?

Most people recommend to not use gravel because the poop gets down into it and stinks.

But I think that some people *do* use it for extreme mud.

I don't know how useful this information is for your climate: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/how-to-fix-a-muddy-run-chicken-coop.47807/

 

[Brooks_]

But I think that some people *do* use it for extreme mud.

I would fully consider rocks as a base layer when dealing with heavy mud or clay.

 

[aart]

large amounts of wood chips or pine shavings are not available here. They are sold in small amounts and are not budget friendly especially if I want to cover large areas.

Can you get other dry plant matter?
Does the coop get wet or just the run?
Large roof overhangs might help.
Waiting for pics.

 

[felys]

The nesting boxes and perch are on the left, then there's an area that is within the coop that is open air but with netting. Shade cloth covers the front of the coop. And the last photo is the chickens grazing area. It's fenced up so they are protected from dogs.

When we built it, we did consider the direction of the rain and also sun.

We did think of larger roof but having the area sunny does keep the smell down and dries up the place faster. Rain will flow in due to the elevation. But it drain out fast also. It's just the mud...

 

[3KillerBs]

Rain will flow in due to the elevation. But it drain out fast also.

Can you dig a ditch across the uphill side of the coop and on the sides to direct the water around the coop?

 

[felys]

Can you dig a ditch across the uphill side of the coop and on the sides to direct the water around the coop?

Sorry for the late response. We're thinking of doing that now. Probably going to extend the roof first and get the water to flow outside the roof and into a small ditch.