Advice for the floor for coop and run?

[jmpk2012]

Hi everyone,
Our first batch of 7 little chicks are growing strong on week #3, and DH started on the coop this weekend. Please see pic of DH and our son at the "construction site"... we have really really sandy soil (like the beach but in the Texas country lol). He's leveled cinder blocks and cemented them as the perimeter/base of the coop and run areas. Of the outlined area, 1/3 of it farthest from where they are standing will be the coop which will be 8x6, and the 2/3rds of the area closest to them will be the covered run. (we will make a fenced yard area to let them free range into the treed area you see in the pic from the run). At this point, they have cemented the cinder blocks to secure them together. We have a a decision to make about how to do the flooring for the coop & run that we'd love your input on - options as we see them are?
1. fill in the area with concrete
2. fill in the area with a combo of gravel/sand
3. put down a thin layer of concrete and then fill the rest with gravel and sand

???

What do you guys think?
Thanks for your help!

 

[Romachann]

Following! Where in Texas?

 

[NatJ]

1. fill in the area with concrete
2. fill in the area with a combo of gravel/sand
3. put down a thin layer of concrete and then fill the rest with gravel and sand

#1 will be the most predator-proof. It's also fairly easy to clean.

#2 is great for drainage (moisture can all flow through), but you'll be scooping up sand and rocks anytime you clean the coop, and the chickens will mix the sand into the bedding. (Unless the sand IS the bedding--some people like sand on the floor of coops, but I am not one of those people.)

#3 sounds like a bad idea to me--any moisture will be able to flow down into the sand and gravel, then the concrete bottom and cemented cinder block sides will hold that moisture in. Great place to grow mold, bacteria, bad smells, etc. (If you want to use less concrete, you could fill with sand and gravel first, then put a thin layer of concrete on top, and it would then perform similarly to #1.)

If it was me, I'd go with #1 for the coop area, #1 or #2 for the run area, and lots of deep bedding/compost pile on top of it all.

Of course, this is my personal opinion--I'm almost certain that other people will have different views, based on what works for them.

 

[jmpk2012]

Following! Where in Texas?

We are located SE of San Antonio, TX

 

[Mamatomany123]

We are located SE of San Antonio, TX

Hello! We used to live in houston then Corpus. We're now in Midland but hoping to go back to Corpus one day.

 

[Ridgerunner]

It's sand, which means it will drain pretty well. Much much better than clay.

Some people like a concrete coop floor. Commercial operations often use them, that way when they finish one flock they can hose them out and sterilize them well before they bring in the new flock. Can't do that with dirt. I don't know how clean you plan on keeping yours but concrete for the coop may not be a bad choice. Try to slope it so it's easy to sweep water out.

My coop floor is dirt. sort of a silty clay. It drains better than pure clay but not as well as sand. When I built it I hauled in enough dirt to raise it above the surrounding area so it stays dry. I use wood shavings on top as bedding. I keep mine really dry and use droppings boards to collect the night-time poop. Mine spend practically all day every day outside so I never really need to clean it, just the droppings boards. I clean mine out once every three or four years, not because I need to but because I want that stuff on my garden. I put it on the garden in the fall so it has time to break down before planting time. Some people clean theirs out once or twice a year. Some people clean them out weekly. We are all unique in what we have and our management styles.

My main run is the same dirt. I don't put anything on it, no bedding or anything else. It's on top of a high place so it drains fairly well. It can get muddy when rain sets in for a while, even though it has a cover. Rain blows in from the side.

I also have a big area inside electric netting. That's where they spend a lot of their time so that's where they do most of their pooping. One of the factors in all this is the chicken density and how that relates to poop load. That's another reason we all get different results.

In your situation I'd go with option 4. Haul in sand to both coop and run, forget the gravel and forget the concrete. Raise it up high enough so that both are higher than the surrounding area so they can drain. If you can set up that third area so they spend a lot of time out there you may not have to manage the poop any more than I do.

 

[Romachann]

I’m 2hrs north of SA. Was just curious!