Coop litter on concrete floor

[themidnightmama]

Hello! We purchased a home that has three large sheds, previously used for housing chihuahuas, which the past owners bred and raised. I am converting one shed into a chicken coop.
My question is about litter options. The shed has a concrete floor. I would like to use the deep littler method but I read it is best to have a dirt floor for this method. Will this work ok concrete?
My plan is to use a combination of straw and pine shavings, since that is what is most convenient for me. I have used both previously but only with a plywood floor coop. What are some alternatives you might suggest? I will have a large flock - currently have 3 dozen chickens headed my way plus a Turkey poult in the bathroom currently. =)

 

[SandyRiverChick]

I don't think a dirt floor is better for "deep litter," I think it's worse. It get's so smelly and gross. When I had concrete floor I just used the long shallow plastic bins that are for under bed storage. When they fill up, dump in compost to complete composting process. That lead me to poop trays so that my floor stayed clean. Sort of same idea, catching poo and bedding in one place instead walking through it (I'm assuming because it's a shed, you have room to stand/walk.)

 

[BarnyardChaos]

Hello @themidnightmama! I don't know why concrete floors wouldn't be recommended. (I tend to think things through as I write, and I'm quite wordy, so bear with me, please):

It seems to me they'd be EASY to keep clean, especially if you're using deep litter. Chickens don't pee; all of their urine, or urates, are contained in their poop - so there's nothing to 'soak into' the concrete, really, if you keep the litter well distributed. If fecal matter sticks to the floor, it's not so hard to scrape off after it's dry. Especially off of concrete with a good floor scraper - then hose it down, scrub with a push broom, rinse, and done. Scraping from vinyl or wood floors inviariably causes damage. Dirt floor would be the easiest, of course - nothing to stick to anyway. But then every time you clean up, you'd be removing a layer of dirt with it and you risk pathogens contaminating the dirt. But on concrete, a rinse with bleach-water or other disinfectant, and voila! Hmmm........ no, I think concrete would be IDEAL.

I've raised CornishX chicks on a concrete floor, and had no problems. While cleanup with these poop machines is messy and stinky, I found it fairly easy to scrape and rinse.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Plan on doing deep bedding, not deep litter, and that should work fine with a concrete floor. That does mean if you want to have active composting going on you'll need to empty the coop bedding into the run, or into compost piles after the fact.

Deep litter really isn't ideal for inside the coop in most cases because it favors dirt contact for the microbes, plus needs to have some moisture in it to compost properly, which means you need extra ventilation to compensate for the extra moisture.

 

[DLA]

Plan on doing deep bedding, not deep litter, and that should work fine with a concrete floor. That does mean if you want to have active composting going on you'll need to empty the coop bedding into the run, or into compost piles after the fact.

Deep litter really isn't ideal for inside the coop in most cases because it favors dirt contact for the microbes, plus needs to have some moisture in it to compost properly, which means you need extra ventilation to compensate for the extra moisture.

I have a concrete floor in my coop. Use deep bedding in the coop so they don't hurt their feet jumping down in the coop and a poop collector under the roost to catch the poo which gets removed and cleaned daily. As long as they're not spending a lot of time in there during the day that seems to work pretty well. If they would be spending a lot of time in the coop then you may have to clean it out regularly as I don't think deep litter works well on concrete like above post from @rosemarythyme details.

 

[Muzie_7]

Deep litter works great on my concrete floor. I don't turn it so the bottom layers Compost nicely. I also don't remove the chicken poo.. You need the poo if you want it to Compost.

 

[Lillith37]

I have a converted garden shed for my chicken coop that has a concrete floor. I used to have a thick layer of pine shavings but ever since the Mite Scare of 2023, I switched to sand which I much prefer.