Wet stinky run....

[aart]

You could dig a big trench, just outside the anti dig apron, fill with coarse gravel.
It would be like a yard gutter (not a drain-as there's no lower ground to drain to)
to keep the flooding from reaching the coop/run.

 

[WhoDatChick]

THANKS YALL!!! Great, awesome advice! I will try some of these and let yall know how things turn out! Thanks for helping me care for my gals

 

[WhoDatChick]

No not soil or sand...use wood chips, large coarse ones...lots of 'em!

This^^^^

Yep, half bury them to absorb water.

Do you buy wood chips from someplace? I was getting them from a neighbor all summer but since the rains started everything anywhere near me is saturated as well... so unless I can purchase materials from a store then everything I have available in my yard is soaked...

 

[getaclue]

The area we built the chicken coop in, is the high side of what looks like a moat when it rains heavy for days on end. I did not want my coop being wet, so dug out the area, and had a load of clean builder's sand delivered. It's expensive, so it came out to a little under a foot deep when spread out over the entire area.

Fill dirt is significantly cheaper, so we added a bit over a foot of fill dirt on top of the sand. That way the sand provides drainage.

Normally my yard looks like this. Off to the right of the pool hose, is a huge drain that goes back to the creek.

Normally we do not get the kind of rain we got this summer. We broke records. As I said, there is a drain that runs to the creek. I'm so glad I did things the way I did. See what record rainfall did? My coop was high, and dry, as long as it wasn't raining.

 

[aart]

Do you buy wood chips from someplace? I was getting them from a neighbor all summer but since the rains started everything anywhere near me is saturated as well... so unless I can purchase materials from a store then everything I have available in my yard is soaked...

It doesn't matter if the chips are wet....you just need to get them deeper, and the larger the chips the better...eventually they will dry out.

Get one of these to handle chips, works better than anything!
ETA: oops, hit post before pic loaded.

 

[getaclue]

BTW, I wore rubber boots to get to the coop.

 

[WhoDatChick]

The area we built the chicken coop in, is the high side of what looks like a moat when it rains heavy for days on end. I did not want my coop being wet, so dug out the area, and had a load of clean builder's sand delivered. It's expensive, so it came out to a little under a foot deep when spread out over the entire area.
View attachment 1632279

Fill dirt is significantly cheaper, so we added a bit over a foot of fill dirt on top of the sand. That way the sand provides drainage.
View attachment 1632291
Normally my yard looks like this. Off to the right of the pool hose, is a huge drain that goes back to the creek.
View attachment 1632302

Normally we do not get the kind of rain we got this summer. We broke records. As I said, there is a drain that runs to the creek. I'm so glad I did things the way I did. See what record rainfall did? My coop was high, and dry, as long as it wasn't raining.View attachment 1632309

Wow! Beautiful... great setup!

 

[WhoDatChick]

It doesn't matter if the chips are wet....you just need to get them deeper, and the larger the chips the better...eventually they will dry out.

Get one of these to handle chips, works better than anything!
ETA: oops, hit post before pic loaded.
View attachment 1632325

Okay, thank you! Tomorrow I’ll try calling some tree cutting companies and see if any have some chips available!
Is that where you’d recommend getting them from? At least I might get some fresh ones as my neighbors pile seems to be getting moldy... and the last time I got some from them I had to contend with fire ants

 

[WthrLady]

Yup.

Hi yall! I have a completely covered run and it has been such a lovely, non-smelly place since it was built last May... and we normally have tons of rain here but we have had a fairly dry summer and fall so the whole run was basically a giant dust bath... which the gals love.. and it NEVER smelled! Well, it has started raining... a lot! When it rains a lot my yard floods so all that water has seeped into the run and now it’s totally wet... so needless to say it smells AWFUL ... does anyone have any tips or ideas or certain materials that may help with the wet and smell? Also, since it’s all wet do I need to make them a dust bath? Thanks for any input

Can you post a photo of your run/coop?

 

[aart]

Can you post a photo of your run/coop?

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/wet-stinky-run.1286345/page-3#post-20816772