We just received our first very hard, I mean very hard (50PMH wind, the works). The door to our coop faces North and the wind came out the northeast. Basically it blew in the door and everything is wet, all the wood flakes, the nesting boxes, everything. What do we have to worry about? Should we change the nesting box hay or will it be okay? We just don't want any mold, I think the coop will dry out during the day tomorrow. Thanks for any help!
Quote:Definitely change all the hay and bedding. I would get all the wet stuff out and let the structure air-dry before adding the new stuff though. You don't want mold problems or worse. If necessary, you can set up some temporary nest boxes very simply with a 5 gallon bucket laid on its side with some hay in it or even a cardboard box.
It will probably be OK. It will be hot tomorrow and dry most of it. If not , THEN you can worry about changing it all If you have power to the coop, run a fan to keep the air moving
Hi, So sorry to hear of the storm. What a hassle for you! You might want to think about using sand instead of straw or shavings for the bedding in your coop and/or run. It won't mold. And it's quite easy to keep clean. There are several threads that discuss the advantages. Take Care.
Spin the coop around or block the door and move the entrance to another wall, remove the bedding and let the coop stay open for a day to dry out so you don't have a mildew issue. If the interior is raw wood it may take a extra day or two to fully dry.
I stuck a tarp over the entrance of my chicken shed to keep some of the rain out,but still allow the chickens to go in and out. I would replace the bedding if it is still wet after 2-3 days. Mix and spread it out to dry.
I feel your pain. We had a severe storm and the coop leaked. If you do not remove the shavings it will mold. If I learned nothing else from this happening, it was not to put so many shavings in the coop. I thought if I didn't put enough in there they would get cold. After removing 12-5 gallon buckets of wet shavings, I didn't get so throw happy when it dried out and came time to replace. On the plus side it showed us that we needed to direct the water in another direction and thankfully it does not leak on that end. I let it dry and then put more shavings in there. When I was raking a few weeks later and moving around the shavings I found mold. Even after letting it dry out for a day it still molded in one spot. Not sure if more water had seeped deeper in the ground at that spot or what. I had to remove the dirt until no more mold was present. We still have not finished all the things we want to do to the coop. It is very secure but we are thinking of adding more windows for more air flow. Good luck to you but definately change out those shavings. They love to scratch them and I already see a few of my 9 week old ones starting to show signs that they are going to be good brooders.
Thanks for all the advice, I will look into all of them. It was a very weird storm, almost like a hurricane, sustained winds of 50MPH with gusts up to 85MPH. So most of the rain was moving parallel to the ground, I mean the wind was really blowing. I have an exhaust fan just to help keep the air moving because it has been HOT! It was on the highest speed which is fairly fast and the wind was blowing the water through the fan. I am going to re-think the nesting box area, and maybe even cover them, this will help if we get any more storms like that. Obviously if a hurricane is coming the coop will be closed up tight, but hopefully none of them. But summertime in south Florida means heavy rain almost every day. So we need to do a couple of adjustments. Like I said in the OP, I just don't want any mold.
