Coop floor is slide out tray. Best bedding for coop and run?

[cbuckingham24]

I used a kit to build my coop and by design, the floor of the coop is also the slide out tray that catches the droppings under the roosts. I want them to have adequate bedding on the floor but the pine shavings make it difficult to get the tray in and out, as it is relatively shallow (see the attached photo, the tray is where the two handles are attached on the bottom left under the coop door). Suggestions for what will work best? What kind of bedding for the run is best? Right now it is temporarily on grass.

 

[SueT]

On a slide out tray, I'd put sweet PDZ......use a cat litter scoop to remove poop.

 

[Hokum Coco]

Suggestions for what will work best? What kind of bedding for the run

I have gone with a wire 2" grid (wire the size of a pencil) over my coop floor. Similar to what is pictured below with 4"x4"x4" cubed blocks stationed under neath the grid on top of a tarp to form a drop pit it worked excellent all summer and I will clean the coop before winter sets in and things freeze solid. The grid even keeps you chickens feet cleaner which in turn keeps your eggs and nest boxes less soiled. I live in Canada and am subject to -40º temperatures.

Clean up is simple replace the tarp with a second one. Spread the first tarp out in the sun to bake and dry. Then flex the first tarp over the compost bin and hose off any stubborn chicken poop.

For my run I have a grass catcher on my lawn mower and throw all the clipping in the run. I Move my run every year and plant my vegetable garden in the vacant spot.

 

[Alaskan]

If you only have 2 or 3 hens in there. .. and if the tray is not deep enough for PDZ... maybe just use newspaper? Maybe crumple it up first, then flatten it out... so it isn't as slippery.

 

[LittleMissCountry]

I have a slide out tray on my coop as well, and had the same problem with shavings. I switched to sand and it works great. I scoop out the poop each morning with a kitty litter scoop and it helps the smell as well. My chicks were around 8 weeks old when I switched and they were scared at first but now it doesn't bother them at all.

 

[LittleMissCountry]

I bought my coopmfrom a friend who decided to get a bigger one. It is from Tractor supply and is supposed to house six chicken though I can’t figure out how. The run in nice and there is alway a shady spot under the coop, but the actual coop itself is a crappy design. The perches are parked about two inches about the pull out tray and at the same night as the nesting boxes. There is no closing door on the front of the coop to the run so they were getting down there and being pig headed about going back up. The ladder to it is too steep for my poor Enchilada to climb because he is just to fat so he has to be picked up and put in or out of it because I am worried that he will break his legs if he tries to jump. This is just not going to work long run.

I have a TS coop that is supposed to house 8 to 10 chickens and my 4 just fit. We had the same issue with the ladder so I put a brick under it to make it less steep. We also raised the roosting bars since they wouldn't use them, although mine still prefer to sleep on the floor.

 

[Folly's place]

Welcome! That's an interesting (not so good) design, and already you've discovered one of it's flaws. Deep bedding with shavings is good stuff, but can't be done with this tray.
What are the actual dimensions of this structure? It looks tiny, and flimsy, and unventilated, although cute.
Sorry to be so blunt, but most prefab 'coops' are not so good in actual use.
Mary

 

[Jamie Molihan]

I have the same problem. If you figure out a good solution let us know.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Best bedding for run is grass, until it's all dead. After that depends on your location/climate.

I never understood the point of slide out trays in a coop, chickens aren't parakeets!

 

[Alaskan]

I can kind of see it... I really like my poop shelves. They only have a 2 inch lip on them and they work great.