flooring in the coop?

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New chicken family

New chicken family

In the Brooder
12 Years
May 6, 2007
90
0
39
Madison WI
We currently have linoleum in the floor of our coop. We built one like was pictured in a 2005 issue of Backyard Poultry magazine. The actuall enclosed coop is about 2 x 4 feet. the rest of the coop is the run: 4 x 6 feet.
My concern is that the linoleum in the enclosed area is very slippery!!! We put it in for ease of scooping poop - but the chicks (4 weeks old) are having such h hard time getting around on it. I spread some wood shavings on it, but it is still slippery.

I need a better suggestion!

I think I may just pull it up and paint?!?!
 
Not only is it slippery, but they will start pecking at it over time and if they can get any they will eat it up!! We poured about 2-3 inches of concrete (bagged quickcrete.) for our floor, you can scrape it, sweep it and then you can periodically spray it out. And it's cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. We put either wood shavings or straw down over it.
Amy J.
 
My opinion is stick with the linoleum and just add a LOT of shavings. They will pack down and become firm, and you'll still have the bonus of the easy cleanup. I'm talking like 4 to 6 inches deep. You can stir the shavings once a week or so to "freshen" them up, and just leave them there until they are too messy.

-MTchick
 
I have a linoleum floor and I love it. I just pile on the shavings and never had any problems with it. It's very easy to clean, not to mention cheap and easy to install. I do the same as MTchick, just stir it up once a week and completely clean it out once a month, every 2 weeks in winter because they spend more time in there. They are free-range by day, so it doesn't get as messy as one might think. 2 bags of pine shavings covers my 8x8 coop easily, that's about $6 a month.
smile.png
 
I don't mean to change the topic but is concrete okay to use for the entire floor? We plan to do concrete but I heard it was somehow harmful so I hesitated a bit.
 
I think the concrete becomes a problem when the chickens have nowhere else to go. (It is not good for their feet to be on constantly, that's my understanding.) Mine all free range on a couple of acres. It's just the coop floor that is concrete, so the only time they're on it is to sleep and of course help clean it when we're trying to clean it. We decided to concrete when (for 3 years) could not keep predators out. Raccoons would tear open chicken wire, weasels and foxes would dig under concrete footers around the coop and rats would chew through plywood floors! So 3 inches of concrete has kept out everything for 4 years now!
Amy J.
 
Concrete is OK if you have a deep layer of sand or shavings over it. The problem is when the birds jump down from the roosts and don't have a soft place to land. They can injure their feet and legs.
 

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