Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[Malquid]

Hello! I’m in Bellingham and, shocker.. it’s raining. Lol

 

[pennyJo1960]

Hey Welcome to Both of you.. Raining here also I am so tired of rubber boots but hate wet feet worse. Do have pavers from house to coops I have three of them

 

[KikiDeAnime]

Woke up to a chick death. I had gone out to check on Mouse & her chicks to find one dead. judging by the wound on it's back, I'd say Mouse may have accidentally killed it. I'm guessing, based off it, that she may have accidentally pecked it too hard which caused it to bleed which made her peck it even more.
Since she only has one left, I plan on getting her another one.

 

[RSTinWA]

Hi -- new to this thread, but directed here as the place to have my soggy weather and deep litter issues answered!

I'm in the Seattle area, so our climate is temperate but very rainy most of the year. I have 6 ducks in our suburban backyard bordering a mountains to sound greenbelt. My coop and run are built on a terrace on the hillside in our wooded backyard.

I want to do the deep litter method using primarily straw, but thus far, the 10 x 10 run is way too soggy and does not dry out at all. I've had them in this run 2 months, and at this point I've got about 8 inches of sodden straw that smells sour and a bit ammonia. I do turn the straw daily, and add a thin layer to give them a fresh surface. But it feels like I need to change something.

Would putting a french drain through the center of the coop be a good idea?

Currently I have a tarp over the hardware cloth roof. Should I go with something more impermeable, like corrugated tin or fiberglass panels? There is never going to be a lot of direct sun on the run area even during dry weather; we have a lot of cedars shading the entire backyard. Is it necessary to have sunlight for drying out and breaking down the materials in deep litter?

What does successful deep litter look like in a very wet climate? And what do I do differently to achieve that?
Rachel

 

[Hinotori]

Even roofed, the silkie pens here can get wet in heavy rain times. I only ever put 2 inches of straw in. Too much molds when wet as the chickens can't turn it easily.

The large fowl have an open run so they get 3 bales in the 16x35 pen. They are overachievers in straw turning so it's composted in about 2 months. There are lots of worms out there that help.

That run started out being a low spot and had issues with smell and turning into a quagmire for the first few years. I used bark one year as well to help firm it up. 10 years later it's now higher so water drains enough that I don't sink halfway to my knees. I must still put down straw in winter but it stays solid and doesn't smell.

I know some people put down a thick layer of gravel in their pens because of drainage issues.

As for deep litter. I do not do it for the silkies. They just have little houses they only sleep and lay in. Cant do it in something that small. The large fowl coop is 16x8. No straw in there. I originally laid down 4 inches of wood pellets and now it's only shavings and occasionally Stall Dry. Though Stall Dry is very rarely used and only if it dumps several inches of rain over a couple days. Normally there is enough moisture coming from below on the dirt floor that it composts very well. Poop only lasts a few days before worms and such take care of it. Fully roofed and walled. Have to keep excess moisture out. It seems to be a hard balance to achieve for some people. I think that is because of coop size. It doesn't worknin small coops.

 

[Sequel]

Mine is a one-shot as well, but I like not having to rely on CO2 cartridges. I used to have a CO2 powered pistol, but it's somewhere in storage at my mom's. It was nowhere near as accurate as my rifle is anyway.

S

Got the job at Dollar Tree! I start in 2 weeks.

Way to go! That’s great!

 

[Hinotori]

There are more nest boxes

 

[KikiDeAnime]

She took it into the old brooder coop
Couldn't find them for a while

 

[saxgoddess25]

Hi -- new to this thread, but directed here as the place to have my soggy weather and deep litter issues answered!

I'm in the Seattle area, so our climate is temperate but very rainy most of the year. I have 6 ducks in our suburban backyard bordering a mountains to sound greenbelt. My coop and run are built on a terrace on the hillside in our wooded backyard.

I want to do the deep litter method using primarily straw, but thus far, the 10 x 10 run is way too soggy and does not dry out at all. I've had them in this run 2 months, and at this point I've got about 8 inches of sodden straw that smells sour and a bit ammonia. I do turn the straw daily, and add a thin layer to give them a fresh surface. But it feels like I need to change something.

Would putting a french drain through the center of the coop be a good idea?

Currently I have a tarp over the hardware cloth roof. Should I go with something more impermeable, like corrugated tin or fiberglass panels? There is never going to be a lot of direct sun on the run area even during dry weather; we have a lot of cedars shading the entire backyard. Is it necessary to have sunlight for drying out and breaking down the materials in deep litter?

What does successful deep litter look like in a very wet climate? And what do I do differently to achieve that?
Rachel

Hmm. I don't have any litter at all in my duck run. It's hard packed dirt, no cover, and they're happy as clams in any weather. I suppose if it's mud all the time, that could be a problem and yeah, I'd look into drainage.

Also, I've read that one should start with pine shavings or similar as the base for deep litter before adding things like straw. Not sure, as I haven't gotten around to trying it yet, but I can say that I'm absolutely unimpressed with straw as a bedding for ducks. I use the pelletized bedding inside my duck coop and love it.

 

[clarkbre]

Just found this thread and am jumping in to introduce myself and gain some more local information. We live in Snohomish.

We had a flock of 5 chickens at our last house for 6 years. Selling the house last year, the coop and hens stayed with the new owners.

I wasn't active on BYC but have since reengaged when we decided to build a new coop for 8 hens. Here's a few pics and video of our progress.

The original coop & run:

My wife found this picture & wanted us to design around it for 8 hens:

This is what we have built so far. Our next step is to add a 10'x8' covered run:

Here is a video of our build:
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