I have read a lot of links and info on the web and even the posts here. I'd like to know what flooring you used for your coop, what type of bedding you use and what you like or would do differently if you were to build a new coop.
We used plywood on the first coop. Even with bedding, it seems like an awful lot of poop sticks to it and also the ramp.
For our new coop, I bought 1/4 " hardware cloth (also for keeping anything from burrowing in), thinking whatever fell through could land on a tarp and be pulled out and used for gardening. Issues there are the draft that would go up the cloth in the winter as well as how to get the tarp back under there. Hmmmm. Since the flooring is not in, I'm also considering using top soil, sand or possibly cement.
Soooooooooo, what did you use for the floor of your coop and what do you like and dislike about it?
Opinions and thoughts on coop flooring.
Nobody wants to talk about flooring huh? LOL
Well I used plywood for mine. Its good because you can put it to what ever height you want when you first build it. The bad thing is that when it's time for you to clean the coop, the droppings stain it. I use a shovel to clean it so it also chips the wood.
Eric
Thank you Eric! That is also what I found with my smaller coop.
Floor of coop is something none of us wants to think about. I have plywood too and same results.
LOL So, no replies means it's a dirty job period? ;)
Badseed, I have plywood on mine. The coop is on stilts so it's probably a little bit easier to clean. I use a nice thick layer of wood shavings for bedding, sweep it good, then use a paint scraper on any dried droppings and sweep again. That has worked well for me. I don't worry about stains. It's a coop for goodness sakes. LOL
I am going to switch to straw for the bedding. I'm not crazy about the way the wood shavings get kicked out of the door and onto the ground below.
I also give their fenced yard a good raking every time I clean the coop and scoop up any droppings or shavings into a 5 gallon bucket. Everything goes into the compost bin.
My mom has a neat set-up.....her coop is up off the ground....and she has a wire flooring for the coop itself. Underneath (with a door to gain access) she took landscaping cloth and lined the dirt floor. The poop falls through the wire onto the cloth - which later she can roll/fold up for an easy clean. It was supposed to (in our mind) leave no poop in the coop......it does pile up - however, some scraping and it falls right through. (the wire is 1/4" squares I believe). I'll try and remember to take pictures when I stop by there in an hour or so......that way you'll get a good idea what I'm talking about! :)
My ducks are in our back shed - and we covered the original plywood with another layer of plywood to keep them from messing up the original floor......and I'm having the same results if not worse....because the ducks are constanly flinging water around!
I'd go with the wire........
Straw does sound like a good option. As I live in a farming community, it is easily picked up for $2.50 a square bale. We were using the wood shavings and they do get kicked out!
The only drawback to the wire at this point, based on what you said, is that our coop is not on stilts. LOL It is 8'x14'. There is at best 8" at one end to maneuver beneath. I could probably use some type of cord, attach it to the tarp and the back of the coop and be able to pull the tarp out, clean it, then pull it back through....
It does give me the idea though, to possibly do half with wood and half with the cloth, giving them more ventilation and me the opportunity to sweep the smaller particles to and through the cloth and let them drop to a tarp beneath. That might solve both problems!
LOL about the ducks. We've not ventured that far yet. ;)
Thanks for the input!
Badseed,
I tried to find my original post regarding my (then) new coop, but I can't find it. Jean529, my daughter, is right, I have a 1/4" wire floor and LOVE it! Yes, some droppings accumulate on the wire over time, but as the chickens walk on it and it dries, it slowly falls through the wire onto the landscaping fabric below. Because the floor is wire, the droppings dry quickly and have relatively little smell. My coop is 30" off the ground and underneath the walls covered with plywood, which prevents drafts from coming up. One side I have the plywood wall mounted with hinges so that I can unlock it and lift it up, making it easy to remove the soiled landscaping fabric below.
I'll post a couple pictures so you can see.... Let me know if you have any questions. I'd be glad to help if I can.
:) Glenda
Here's a picture from another angle...
:)
PS:
There is so little smell from the dried droppings, and everything is so contained, that I only have to clean out from underneath my coop once a year! Spring-cleaning chicken style!!!
Thank you Glenda! That is very helpful! Great pics too! You have a very nice set up!
Beware, stupid question coming.....If you have a big door for them to use, the same as people do, is a smaller door necessary? I usually see both on coops.
We still have to put the back wall on but are waiting until we decide the height of the nesting boxes and one row or two. I'm thinking we'll do them two high. We are thinking we'll leave some type of doors for collecting eggs from the outside. Is that what the hinged plywood section are on yours? They look too high to be the clean out doors for the bottom.
While I have you cornered (chuckle) how far off the bottom are your nest boxes and is it all one box (not divided)?
Thanks Badseed. Always glad to share info.... :)
The little door is for the chickens to use, and the big door is MY working area. I do not allow the chickens inside my working area; I don't like to walk in chicken poop. Sometimes I check on the chickens before I leave home, when I'm wearing my "good" clothes, so it's nice to have a "clean" area to stand in. The picture below is taken from my working area. The two doors with wire insets, are the doors (to) the coop itself. The floor is 30" off the ground.... We came up with 30" because I am 5'3" and that height that makes it easy for me to reach inside the coop to refill the feeders, waterers, grab a chicken, etc. My coop is 4 feet deep (about as far as I can reach) and 8 feet wide, which is my only regret. I wish I had made it 4' deep x 12' or 14' wide. I could have used the extra room. But I have had up to 10 chickens at one time, and they did fine in those dimensions. (If) I remember correctly, my nesting boxes are 14" off the floor. They are separate boxes with plywood walls between each nest. Yes that is what the small hinged doors are - access doors into the (back) of the nesting boxes. I wanted separate doors so that I only have to deal with one chicken at a time, if they're setting on the nest.
Please forgive me if I'm giving you info you already know, but a great book that was a BIG help to me when I was getting started is "Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens". It answered just about every question I had.
If you have any other questions, send them my way. :)
~:> Glenda
PS:
In the picture in my prior post, see the hinged plywood door/bottom? That is what I lift up to clean out the droppings that have fallen through the 1/4" wire floor.
Below is a picture of the nesting boxes. My DH put the roof of the nesting boxes on a steep enough angle to keep them from roosting on top and making a mess up there. ....He's awesome! (my DH)
:) Glenda
My floor is chip board that I have painted with porch floor paint. I use shavings on top of that (about 6 inches deep). I completely clean it two to three times a year and scoop out extra, if it gets piled up or wet. After I scoop out all the old litter, I scrub the whole thing out with Fabulosoa (I like the smell) and the garden hose. I have a couple of holes drilled in the floor so the water runs through to the space under the coop (chickens can't get in there) and suck any left up with the wet dry vac.Then I plug the holes back up with a couple of big corks. Taa-Daa! Clean coop, dry floor, 13 happy chickens.
I do hate the way the shavings get kicked out the door, but when I tried straw it didn't stay as nice and dry in there. I do put straw in the corner where they like to lay their eggs though.
Thanks a bunch for chiming in! I do have a few colors of porch and floor paint around here as well as some fence and barn paint that will be leftover after I paint the last wall. Does any of the paint seem to chip up when you scrape it out or scrub it?
I've never even heard of Fabulosa so I may have to go smell test it. LOL
My coop is a regular shed with plywood flooring covered in that clear plastic you use to hold pink insulating it with another plywood board on top with wood chip bedding.
Cleaning is easy we just scoop out as much as possible then we throw out the plywood board re plastic it then place another board on top.
I use a snow shovel to clean the floor and after 4 years, there is hardly a mark. Fabulosa is a really cheap cleaner, that smells like lavender. I get it at Family dollar or the dollar store. I just love the stuff. The make a pretty good orange one too. When I use it on my floors the house smells good all day. Well, at least untill Mose the dog comes in.
Flooring???? what color carpet will you use to match the curtains??????? and who cleans the bathroom?
I'd say child labor but when I get tired of asking, then telling, I end up doing it!
Oh, and I'd chose something neutral. ;)
Glenda in Michigan.... I love your coop!! We are just getting ready to build our first one and have been trying to pick everyones brains about the best/easiest design. What is on the floor under your chicken wire? And is the back wall, just a wall? And do you put up plexiglass, shutters or something else over the wire doors in winter? Thank you for the info, Suz
Great coop, Glenda. Tell your dh he did a wonderful job! ;) I hope you don't mind but I saved your pics on my puter so I'll be able to reference them if I finally get to build a new coop.
Chele, our coop was here when we bought the place. I'll have to try to take a pic of it tomorrow. The floor is made of 2x4's layed on their sides, the roosts are tree limbs that came from trees on our property, the nests are plywood, the outer walls of the coop are painted rough cut lumber as is the door. I keep a deep bed of sawdust in the coop so I only have to clean it 4 or 5 times a year. I clean under the roosts a lot more often than that and of course I keep the nesting boxes really clean. When I clean the nests I usually throw the shavings into the main part of the coop because they are still usable. My chicks also have an attached pen so don't soil the coop as much as those who are kept inside most/all the time. I sometimes use cedar shavings in the main part of the coop but only pine in the nests because I don't want the cedar flavoring the eggs ;~)
I would love to have a coop inside another building but the sheds on our property I have/will use them for other livestock.
Lana
Suz - Thanks, I really (enjoy) my coop. Having the "working area" raised up above the ground makes it real easy on my back! ~~ Under the wire floor - 30 inches below - is a dirt floor. But I laid down a clean piece of 4' X 8' of landscaping fabric, which is the exact size of my coop, so that all the droppings that fall through the wire floor land on top of the landscaping fabric. You can buy landscaping fabric at any home and garden store - Menards, Lowes, Home Depot, etc. It comes on a bolt and is very inexpensive.
Last year was my first winter and I did not put up plexiglass over the doors, but I did drape an old blanket over both doors to help hold in the heat. I had to take down the blanket every time I needed to check on them or get inside to refill their feed and water, which was kind of a pain in the neck, but oh well. ….I'm going to give that some more thought now that fall is here, and see if there is an easier and better way of doing that. Maybe if I bought some ridged insulation and cut it to the size of the screened part of the doors….. I'll have to think on that one. It would be nice to be able to see inside though, without letting what heat they have out, or standing out in the cold peering in through the outside window. I DID put a heat lamp inside the coop for them though.
Lana - I don't mind you saving my pictures at all! Glad they can be of some help to you!! I'd love to see pictures of your coop when you get it built!
:) Glenda
Am I the only one that has sand on the floor with straw on top to catch droppings? The chickens love the sand so they can take their sand baths. I use a pitch fork to clean up the straw and put it in the compost pile (the strawberry bed is cover already). Oh and under the sand, I have Hardware cloth to prevent rats/mice/snake from coming up from under.
sounds like a good idea to me!
Sand sounds like a very good choice as long as you keep it clean as you do, Robert. Sawdust is much cheaper here than sand or straw plus mine have a yard and sometimes free-range and not just a coop so don't worry quite as much what bedding they have in the coop as long as it's not a health hazard for them or the eggs and easy to clean. I think it would depend where in the US you live as to what type bedding/flooring would be the best choice for each individual.
Lana
I use chicken tractors so my chickens get fresh grass all the time. It also fetilizes the lawn. No smell as they are moved often.
We went with a cement floor in our coop. It is covered with about 6 or more inches of straw and it cleaned out about 4 times a year, 3 of which are in the winter. We have about 35 to 40 chicks and they do poop a lot!
This is probably a silly question but what are chicken tractors?
a chicken tractor is the name of a small portable coop with run that you move around your yard, farm, or property. so similar to free ranging, plus free fertilizer!
you can do a search in this forum, there are a lot. i am thinking also feathersite.com and self-sufficient-life.com
just last night i printed out a 14 page plan for one from SSL.com. you can probably figure it out from pictures, and there are TONS of them. you can make them fancy, or simple, and even just from materials other's would throw out.
now you have REALLY opened a new can of worms! LOL
Wow Tamara, 14 page plan??? your going to have to lead us better that ssl.com we wanna see..
This is the first tractor we built. http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/726974/
GET OUT!!! Badseed.. I swear.. I follow you all my life... lol
I always tell DH Badseed has done this.. Badseed has done that.. if you recall we both purchased our places the same year.. You must have had a rich uncle because you got started faster than I..
And while I am not whinning.. you just really seem to have handles on your one step back.. and lept two steps foward...
Anyway I laughed when I clicked on your linc.. because that is the Tractor we just finished building... to a tee!!
We made a couple greenhouses last year, and it got me to thinking that would work with very few modifications..
One day.. we are just going to have to meet!! (that and I now have some really nice daylily seeds I just won at auction)
I have heard that cement is the best way to go for flooring. It's easy to clean by just hosing it off.
frans, come to the Ohio River Valley Gardeners RU in June. Go to the ORVG forum for info. Chele and her family are great fun! I brought home some of her hens last year that are keeping me in eggs :)
Lana
Might just have to check it out...
ok, go to www.self-sufficient-life.com and click on keeping chickens. they have tons of pics submitted by folks of tractors, coops, ahouses, runs... they have a newsletter, and they have ebooks [not free] to print out...
tf
Yes, that's what my coop floor is is cement and I love it. I clean it every morning so it doesn't smell and the flies aren't so prevelent in the summer. In all honesty I think that's why my girls lay so well in the winter since the house is clean. I have a flat shovel that I just leave in the coop and scoop the poop up every morning! Lots of "oops ' huh? LOL! And yes it easy to hose down as well.
Susan
mine is cement and covered in bedding. too much saw dust right now, need to add some hay. i keep a broom and a hoe handy. when i clean it out i sweep it out the door and use a big scooper to move it to a nearby garden area. i even dump their water on the garden, it comes with free fertilizer LOL.
of course they free range, but even when left in their outdoor coop they have plenty of loose soil for dusting...
nice mixture of ladies there!
This message was edited Mar 4, 2008 12:10 PM