Wet sand, HELP!

[boreanaz2k]

Hello everyone!

I am currently living in Seabeck, WA and I am a first time coop owner. We built our coop from reclaimed wood, pallets and a few supplies from the home depot. I am very happy with my coop, except for one thing.... The rain here in Washington likes to go sideways! Our run is wonderful and we decided to use sand on the floor so we could easily clean it out. This worked wonders until it started to rain. alot. Our sand is now wet, and nasty and I'm very frustrated! I am currently working on cleaning out the nasty wet sand and have NO CLUE what to put in there after. My thought was to put peel and stick flooring on top of the hardwire mesh we had under the sand and then put something on top of all of that. Is this going to be an issue? What should I use for bedding keeping in mind that it will continue to rain for a better part of the year.


This is so you can see the mesh under the sand




And here is the coop all done, so even with the roof, the rain comes in sideways and the sand gets soaked. My poor girls are NOT happy




Please help if you can!

 

[Time-Out]

Which way does the rain come? Can you not put clear plastic over that side? Maybe you could have it removable for when it doesn't rain.

 

[chfite]

Sand will be wet, but not have water standing if it is deep enough. I use about 4-6 inches of sand. This allows the water to drain, so the chickens are not standing in water. Sand doesn't make mud the way soil will.

Wet sand is not so bad for the chickens' feet. Mine forage daily. When it rains heavily, the chickens still walk everywhere they wish. They don't seem to be concerned about walking through water or wet soil and grass. Nevertheless, they don't have to stand in the mud or water. They also don't seem to be concerned about getting wet.

If the sand is deep, it rarely requires cleaning because the chickens will keep turning everything over. Droppings get pulverized and decompose.

My run has no roof, but the chickens can go under the coop as it is in the run. The soil under the coop rarely gets wet. Of course, they can go inside.

You may need more sand.

Chris

 

[The Lazy L]

From your pictures it appears the top of the sand is level with the rest of your yard.

Get your sand higher than the yard so water (rain) can drain out instead of water (rain) from the yard draining into the sand (run).

 

[boreanaz2k]

Thankyou soooo much for the replies!

The sand is getting wet but its like caked into a cement like floor so the girls dont really move it around. They arn't overly unhappy with it I just worry about them. We are moving in August to a bigger house so I'm going to make sure the run there is above the ground so that the sand can properly drain. Its not coming in on one side in particular, I think its just the water soaking up from the ground over time since it gets SOOOO wet here! Thankyou for all your help!

There is no standing water just this caked down sand and thier poop on top.... should I try to mix it up? Or maybe put some bedding down on top of it? I kinda just need a fix for it for now, the dry season will be here in 2 months so I can really get in there then but for now, we still have rain.

 

[The Lazy L]

.... should I try to mix it up? Or maybe put some bedding down on top of it? I kinda just need a fix for it for now, the dry season will be here in 2 months so I can really get in there then but for now, we still have rain.

The chickens will "mix it up" by themselves.

Mine will dig a hole 2" or 3" deep for their dust bath. A few days later they have filled in that hole and dug another.