water in run

[sharol]

Our run is in an area that is occasionally (maybe 3 or 4 times a year) very wet. It carries the drainage from a fairly large area, and 2/3 of it turns into a shallow river a couple of inches deep during a hard rain or (like now) during a fast thaw following heavy snow. It will dry out quickly once the onslaught is gone, but for a day or two it is REALLY wet.

I have a couple of straw bales in there to block wind and they can get up on those, and some of the straw from a 3rd bale is on the ground and a wood pallet in one corner, but they are still wading in a fair %age of the run. They don't seem to mind (silly girls).

Now the question: The coop is DRY. Will the water in the run cause problems for their feet? With the snow run-off, it is very cold. They will be out in the dryer (not dry, just dryer -- we got 2 feet of snow that is melting pretty quickly so everything is muddy and wet) yard for a couple of hours a day, but the rest of the time they are in the run (by choice, the coop is available). My best guess is that by late Tuesday, it should be back to normal.

 

[Sinfonian]

Can't help on the safety of the birds, but there are ways to help the drainage of the site and materials, like sand to keep it dry in the future. Is the site downstream if you will with water draining into the area? If so, that's not the best area for the coop. If the area just gets overrun with water at times, there are ways to keep the drainage good so the soil stays dry-ish. Finally, a roof could be built such that water drains down hill.

Good luck!

 

[The Chicken People]

Our chicken yard is a swamp but... the ducks love it!

 

[FoodKillah]

My situation is similar to yours, on the new run i build, there was the lake of my yard when it rains, so i elevated the ground with some extra soil i had by 5 inches, now the yards cement retaining wall is lower than the runs soil and hopefully this will keep it dryer. When the water gets cloaked and mixes up with all that poo the outcome is very stinky and dirty, isnt it, i feel sorry for my chicks

 

[sharol]

We knew when we put the coop and run in that location that water would be an occasional problem. It is possible that we could raise the level of the ground so that the water would flow around it like a little island. We are debating the sense of doing that since it happens so seldom. The coop itself is far enough off the ground that runoff never gets in there.

This is our first winter with the girls, and frankly I hadn't even considered snow runoff as a problem. I was thinking that the spring storms were the times we would get water in there.

A roof wouldn't help because the water flows from an area above the location of the run/coop. Yes, we are downstream from the water sources. It actually drains off pretty fast. It was dry yesterday (covered with snow where I hadn't shoveled), and by noon today (at 60 degrees) I had an inch or two of water on 2/3 of the run space. By evening, most of the water had drained away on down stream.

 

[patandchickens]

A couple thoughts.

First, pallets. Scrounge some up and put them out there *only while it's flooded* (i.e. as the meltwater stream goes down and things start to freeze up again, I would recommend removing the pallets before they are stuck in place, which can ranch up rodents and will greatly shorten the pallets' lifespan).

Second, I hear you on the snowmelt-river thing because that is what much of the front half of our whole property is like, including backyard, right around coop, front paddocks, and barn

For sure your idea of trucking in some roadbase or whatever as fill would help a lot. Two other things I hav made considerable use of in getting the spring thaw situation under MUCH better control here than (apparently) any of the previous inhabitants here had:

-- if possible, when the ground thaws (i.e. this won't help you right now) make a diversion trench AROUND the run so that the meltwater has somewhere it'd rather go. Don't do this right at the foot of the run fence, you want it a yard or two away at least. The trench or swale will likely need to be 'tuned up' every few years as it tends to fill in, but it can make a MAJOR difference. What you need to do right now is go out there while the water is flowing and make a study of where it looks like the trench would need to go -- where to start, where to route, where to end it. Mark with stakes and take photos. Otherwise you will find yourself in September saying 'gee, I really oughta trench this before winter' but everything's bone-dry and it is hard to envision exactly where the worst of the flow wanted to go so you have to guess and don't always guess right. Ask me how I know

-- as a temporary measure, if the ground is fairly flat (i.e your run is not a strongly-preferred path for the water) I have had a fair bit of luck controlling the worst of the meltwater, e.g. the first half of the thaw period or so, by digging a trench *through the snow* for the water to use. It needs to be only very gently curving, no sharp bends, so you may need to place it differently than you would do for an actual trench or swale in the soil. And if you get to the point where the water is sheeting over the ground under the snow, your snow trench ceases to do as much good.

Good luck, have fun, find some pallets

,

Pat, not quite to thaw conditions here yet (and having a precipitous freeze today) but gonna warm up again after tomorrow for a few days and may be experiencing your situation soon

 

[sharol]

Good ideas. We did trench through the snow on the outside (south) line of the run, and it really helped. We probably need to do some sort of diversion on the east side a bit later. I like the idea of looking at it now for ideas of where to send the water later.

Thank you for all the well thought out ideas. The girls and I (and my DH) appreciate your input.


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[elmo]

I just chatted at length with our poultry vet yesterday about chicken feet, as it happens. One of our hens devloped the beginnings of a bumblefoot infection last month and I wanted him to recheck her foot. The toenails from her inside toe had gotten long enough to begin to abrade the bottom of her foot. So now I give all our chickens toenail manicures.

Wet conditions in the run for extended periods can be a problem for poultry because of the increased potential for bacterial growth leading to foot infections. But if your run dries out in a few days, this shouldn't be a problem. And of course if the run floods the chickens do need someplace so they aren't in standing water, but you have that covered as well.

One thing that our vet mentioned yesterday is to watch out for toe balls...when mud cakes on the toenails. He reminisced about keeping quail when he was a boy and having to go out and clean toe balls off the tiny feet of 400 quail. He used to hope they stayed indoors when it rained!

If you check toes and feet periodically during/after wet periods, you'll be able to spot if any problems do develop and treat them quickly.

 

[sharol]

elmo, thanks for the headsup on the "toe balls." I will be sure to examine each of them again today.

 

[elmo]

Quote:
You're very welcome!

I don't know why, but one of our hens, Ozma, gets toe balls more frequently than the others. The weather has been very nice here lately after a freeze with snow (unusual for North Texas), so I've been letting our flock use their day tractor out on the yard. The ground is still wet in spots from the snow melt and a bit muddy. Hermione had toe balls yesterday and this morning I noticed Ozma had them again. I just soften the dried mud with a shallow footbath for a few seconds and that usually loosens the dirt enough so that it comes off easily. We have clay soil here, so that's also a factor, I'd bet.

Ozma got pasty butt as a chick, so I can only imagine what's she's thinking when I scoop her up: "oh, man! Not her again!"