Coop floor covering, substrate, over concrete floor..

[Little Coop on Salt Creek]

Hi all,

We are so very close to having our chicks.. our coop floor is concrete and we are close to 100% sold on using the sand method.

Can anyone who has a concrete coop floor share what they use and how it works for you?

We are a busy homeschooling family, who is home a lot, but we do have some busy days that might make scooping every single day hard... any shares are greatly appreciated! ~ Jenny

 

[br0nc0]

Hi,
I use wood shavings in my inside "winter" coop with concrete floor. I put in 1"-2" on the whole surface and I'm good for about two weeks, even more if it's not very humid. I've been doing it for two years now and it has worked great for me.

 

[nconley11]

I also would like to use sand for at least part of the summer but I have a plywood floor.

 

[Folly's place]

I've always used shavings and deep litter; no way am I scooping the poo daily! Unless you have a very few birds, very dry climate, and love daily chores of this sort, use litter instead. Sand is heavy! Moving it in and out wouldn't be fun either. You can always change your plan later, so just try something and move forward. But deep litter is the most user friendly management plan, IMO. Mary

 

[dlp40]

I personally love a deep litter method for coops with dirt floors. Since yours is concrete I will say that my close second favorite method is, pine shavings and sweet pdz. The pine and sweet pdz make clean up and keeping moisture down a breeze for me. I can go a month sometimes in my coops of 8 and 7 birds respectively between cleanings. Every 2 weeks is more what I tend to do though. To add to the east of cleaning my smaller banta m coop, 8 bantam Cochin, I added 2 cut open feed bags under the pine shavings and sweet pdz. It literally takes me 10 mins to clean the whole floor this way. I Just grab the feed bags, fold up, take out, dump, and put down new pine and pdz.
The pdz absorbs moisture and keeps the smells to almost 0.
Hope this is helpful

 

[Little Coop on Salt Creek]

I am really liking our sand in the coop/ brooder. It is so easy to see the poo. Right now I use a modified kitty litter scoop and put the poo in an old plastic Easter basket. I just spend a minute or 3 and scoop it up when I go in there. We did add PDZ to it and there is no nasty smell. Whatsoever. Also our sand has different size rock in it, so it can double as grit.