UGH! Rain and the art of keeping the flock dry

[Peppermint]

Sounds like we're all in the same "boat"

We're finishing the run this weekend, and because of the likelihood that it will rain for a few months straight come October...I'm putting a roof over the run! That should keep the peeps dry and happy.

 

[Dingleberry]

I didn't mind the rain until my girls made it a mud hole about 8' in front of the coop. I covered their run with cooragated plexiglass. and I am helping my DH make the roofe tomorrow for the new coop in the garage. So it will be a convertable.

I will post picts tomorrow night.

 

[silkieowner]

its been raining here in victoria australia on and off for 3-4 days now and my poor chooks don't get much time out of there coop so what i'm going to do is i'm going to put a roof on half of there run so when it does rain they can still come out of the coop.

 

[ScaredOfShadows]

I'm in North Carolina on the VA border and I swear its been raining off and on for an entire week. We've had 2 nice days with no rain for a whole 48 hrs in 10 days. It rains just about every evening or over night. Half my back yard is very hard to drain, especially when its alot of rain, and so 1/2 the yard looks like a bog!!!! luckily i knew this before i built my permenant coop and built a drain off ditch on the hillish spot that coop is at, and the coop itself is pretty water proof, just have to touch it up every couple months to make sure it stays leak proof. My newest coop i'm designing is a tractor and it will be partially covered on the run so that the silkies will be able to go out in the rainy or snowy weather.

I've learned through trial and error what works and doesnt work. Its all about try try try and eventually you get it right

 

[flgardengirl]

I usually throw a couple tarps over part of their run to allow them a place to go besides the coop that is out of the rain. We are lucky here that we have sandy soil so it doesn't get real muddy.

 

[pokeytolman]

I know I saw you say you were going to cover your run but as another fellow wet PNWester might i suggest some drainage too I put gutters on the coop and run and laid 4" perforated pipe wrapped in landscape fabric all the way around my coop and run. then connected the gutters to the pipe then ran it a ways from the coop and run. So even in the nastiest of the rain it has only got wet from the rain coming in sideways

but nothing really to do about that. this was something that I really put thought into before I started building
Good luck

 

[jettgirl24]

Ugh I'm glad I have company. This weekend is just miserable. I opened the door to the run this morning and all four looked at me like "Noooo thank you!".

I think the rooster was so disgusted he didn't even bother to crow this morning. I don't even know what to do with my run right now. I just finished building it and I was going to leave it alone until they ate and scratched up all the grass but now it's just a slippery poopy mess. At least it hasn't started to smell... Yet. I was going to head to Burien to get some DE at the feed store but I don't even know if there's a point right now as it'll just get washed away. Luckily my four have a coop that is about 18 feet long so they have plenty of space to get their chicken on without having to go outside. Oh the joys of Seattle weather... Just gotta love it!

 

[MotherJean]

Ah, yes, drainage! Thanks, for the tips. Your set-up sounds excellent, Pokey, and I've added gutters, downspouts and drains to my wish list on the covered run. DH and son included those in the design of the greenhouse they built for me several years ago as a Mother's Day present, but I don't think any of us considered doing that for the chicken run. I had dug a halfhearted ditch around the perimeter but, clearly, not adequate to handle anything like the downpour we've had this week.

I'll tell you guys this, in spite of my griping, I am grateful this learning experience came in May and not November when the chances of getting a dry day for reconstruction are somewhere between slim and fat. Actually, now that I'm all dried out and had time to think about it, I'm sort of looking forward to building the coop I really wanted to build in the first place and, hopefully, make a better job of it because I've learned a few things.

BTW, the rain slacked off today so I turned the girls out. They pretty much beat feet for the area under the coop and are now all piled into about 4 square feet right in the center where it remained semi-dry. They're all having a nice dirt bath. Gotta love chickens and their untroubled attitude

 

[foxinachickenhouse]

Rain has not stopped here for days and days. Just finished throwing 1/2 ton of river sand into new run. Part of the covered run was a lake. And surrounding the coop where I dug to sink the apron was a moat. Poor dears. Not even the new sand is totally dry. Everything here is rain and hail battered. The chickens are loving the slag salmonberries though.

Got a load of hog fuel (ground stumps) for paths and other muddy area. They like scratching around in it. Am thinking of using it over the sand in some covered areas to absorb and then just raking it off out into the path. Will see how that goes.

Stay strong PNW'erners! Summer will come...I hope.

 

[MeerKat]

Will the rain hurt the chickens ? We just left ours under a tin roof with high perches and they were alright . The were in a 16'x30' covered pen .