Ugh RAIN...need help

[Gammas Bearded Babies]

Well, it depends on if that 20' length slopes at all.
If it doesn't you may have to angle the trench along the length so it drains.

Alongside the 20' length of the run there is a slight slope...but nowhere near as much slope as it is along the 10' front and back of run.

 

[Gammas Bearded Babies]

Start at a convenient point as close to the garden bed as possible then slant it toward the lower corner of the coop run area. You can use a stretched string to keep yourself on the correct line.

Thank yall for your patience...hard for me to understand this type stuff.
Do It like this?

 

[3KillerBs]

Thank yall for your patience...hard for me to understand this type stuff.
Do It like this?

I'm sorry, I have no ability to draw a sketch right now because I'm at church in a lull after making coffee.

What you need is a scaled up version of the little ditch I made around my brooder as shown above. A channel that water will flow down instead of flowing into the run.

 

[Gammas Bearded Babies]

I'm sorry, I have no ability to draw a sketch right now because I'm at church in a lull after making coffee.

What you need is a scaled up version of the little ditch I made around my brooder as shown above. A channel that water will flow down instead of flowing into the run.

Ok thank u! Our church is online... n waiting for DH to wake up.
I'm just gonna go for it! Surely I can't mess it up too badly.

 

[3KillerBs]

Ok thank u! Our church is online... n waiting for DH to wake up.
I'm just gonna go for it! Surely I can't mess it up too badly.

Seeing how the water flows is why you do the digging in the rain.

 

[linguini]

In addition to all the suggestions, you may also consider tying up a gutter along the bottom edge of the tarp onto the fence (not sure how far down the tarp is now in winter). You can divert the water coming down from the tarp away to the other end of of the run.

The concrete blocks along the bottom edge of the fence (like @3KillerBs suggested) will also help.

I had gone through the frustrating muddy run problem in our chicken run last year, trying all kinds of bedding, in the end, it's the makeshift overhang and gutter that solved the problem! The run has been completely dry since.

Attached is a photo of the overhang on top of the cube.
The tarp is inside the cube (first time chicken parents, didn't know the run should best be covered! so tarp covering was an afterthought). I use an internal gutter to catch the water that comes off the tarp and divert it out of the cube.

Sorry about the sad looking squash. The photo was taken a day after the first frost in the fall. We cut a 4x8 plastic coroplast sheet ($30 in homedepot now, it was $20 then!) into two 2x8 strips. So my overhang was a $40 solution!
Gutter is < $6 for 10 ft.

 

[NatJ]

Thank yall for your patience...hard for me to understand this type stuff.
Do It like this?

The most basic points:
--water runs downhill
--you want the water to run away from the chickens

So if you dig in the rain, you can see where the water is coming from, and make a trench to let it flow where you want it to go. You can watch the water move in the trench as you dig, so you know that the water runs the right way.

You want the water to go past the chicken area, not into the chicken area.
You want the water to end up somewhere downhill of the chickens.

 

[Gammas Bearded Babies]

Ok 1 trench down...1 to go! But not today. Turned from rain to sleet as temp dropped in the time I was digging.
I started at corner of where the garden is and went diagonal past the run and new coop area. Then I did like a fork at the end of that to help divide up the water as it comes down the slope.
Sure hope this works!!!
The other side of the run where the door is I'm literally sinking like 6" in mud just to get inside the run. So definitely gonna have to do that trench soon too but wasn't takin into consideration my limitations.

it's the makeshift overhang and gutter

The tarps are in the same position as in photos.
I think the tarps are good for covering the run...but then so many say take em off. So idk what to do bout em.
We are having 3 sunny days (supposedly - the weather literally changes faster here than you can make a cup of coffee!)
So that would let it dry out some...just a waste of good zip ties and work to get em off.
I just fear when more days of rain come that it'll be worse than it is now without the tarps.
I have been contemplating through gutters! How did you attach em? Do you have links of what you used as gutters? No idea what I'm doing when it comes to this stuff.

 

[aart]

The tarps are in the same position as in photos.
I think the tarps are good for covering the run...but then so many say take em off. So idk what to do bout em.

Wait and see...the next rain get out there and see where the run off is coming from and where it is going.

 

[linguini]

Ok 1 trench down...1 to go! But not today. Turned from rain to sleet as temp dropped in the time I was digging.
I started at corner of where the garden is and went diagonal past the run and new coop area. Then I did like a fork at the end of that to help divide up the water as it comes down the slope.
Sure hope this works!!!
The other side of the run where the door is I'm literally sinking like 6" in mud just to get inside the run. So definitely gonna have to do that trench soon too but wasn't takin into consideration my limitations.

The tarps are in the same position as in photos.
I think the tarps are good for covering the run...but then so many say take em off. So idk what to do bout em.
We are having 3 sunny days (supposedly - the weather literally changes faster here than you can make a cup of coffee!)
So that would let it dry out some...just a waste of good zip ties and work to get em off.
I just fear when more days of rain come that it'll be worse than it is now without the tarps.
I have been contemplating through gutters! How did you attach em? Do you have links of what you used as gutters? No idea what I'm doing when it comes to this stuff.

This is what I'd do with only skills for arts and crafts, not elegant at all, so, don't laugh!
but may work:
- tie a 2x2 bar from inside the fence
- screw the gutter from outside into the 2x2 right below the tarp to catch the water
(the gutter will have to tilt toward where you want to water to run off.)

I'll take some photos later to show how our internal gutter works.