Chicken house with concrete floor

[Shawnee Moon]

I moved in with my boyfriend last fall, so I am still unfamiliar with all the buildings and such on his three acres. Today we cleaned out the chicken house.

His late wife had kept banties in it, the little chickens. There are ten nest boxes inside. I didn't know until I swept and vacuumed in there, that it has a concrete floor.

We set up a brooder area for the baby chicks (not yet purchased) using a heat lamp and circular metal "pen". I'm adjusting it and monitoring it till I can maintain a steady 90° before bringing babies home.

I saw a thread about sand being used as bedding; I was considering shavings, or (if not priced beyond reach) crushed walnut shells or other organic matter.

The chicken house is insulated some, has doors and windows, a wooden ladder roost, wooden nest boxes and like I said , a concrete floor. I'm in northwestern Wyoming. It was a balmy 75° today but will be in the 40s by Wednesday and the twenties at night. Wyoming can get wicked cold in the winter, but we have very low humidity (like 15-25%) and mere inches of rainfall annually. It's high desert. We're a dusty, windy, dry state.

I'm not sure how many chicks I'm getting, between 10-25 I'm guessing. Probably closer to ten. Laying hens, for the eggs and as pets. Not trying to get rich selling eggs but if my girls are productive, I'll sell to neighbors or give to friends.

I'm looking for the best bedding for the chicken house. The run, outside, right now is just soil, I may throw grass seeds out and water it while the chicks are growing inside the house, I should get grass up easily.

Is sand sensible for inside? The posts I read seemed like it was being used on dirt floors, not concrete. I don't work because I ha a bad back. So shoveling, heavy bedding, heavy bags of bedding, etc is difficult for me. (My boyfriend also has a bad back, same applies to him) It seems the sand would be easy to clean, by raking, but hard to remove it if it all needed changing, etc.

Opinions?

 

[Schroeder]

I would recommend against using sand inside. As you mention, eventually you will have to replace it and that would be quite a chore. I think you would be more likely to have dampness/odor issues with it too. The sand is perfect for outside in the run, but not inside.

I have concrete floor in my largest coop and use pine shavings for the deep litter method. The excrement tends to dry up quickly. I rake it a couple of times a week, and sometimes throw scratch grains on it to encourage digging by the occupants. It amazes me that I have no dampness or odor issues without having changed the bedding for 18 months. Yes, you likely will want to change it out eventually, but the byproduct is the perfect makings of composted garden soil any gardener would die for. You might even convince a gardening buddy to do it for you in exchange for the spoils. Its much lighter to haul than is an equivalent volume of sand.

 

[MamaRudey]

I also would do deep litter. We use horse pellet bedding or fire pellets without ignitor. We sprinkle our wood ash in there and in the dust bath tires, and speinkle the occasional DE and Sweet PDZ. You only have to clean it once a year or so, which I am sure some teen in your area will do for a reasonable amount of cash.