Questions about coop bedding

[Graceyyy]

My husband and I just finished building our coop for our 5 hens. Inside we have 3 nesting boxes and then a 30"x40" interior space where we installed roosting posts. The entire floor where the roosts are is a sliding drop board floor, but I am unsure as to whether or not I need to lay pine shavings on the drop board floor or if I should only line the nesting boxes with bedding?

Also, we enclosed the entire outdoor run area in hardware cloth, including the floor, to prevent predators from burrowing up underneath the coop. Is that okay for the chickens to walk around on or should I put some sort of bedding down on top of the hardware cloth?

3rd question... I planned to keep the food and water in the run, but what should I do when I lock the chickens inside the coop at night? Should I put food and water inside during the night?

 

[sumi]

Welcome to BYC For the sake of easy cleaning, I would put something under the roosts, shavings of some kind or another type of bedding. Chickens make a huge mess on the roosts!

The hardware cloth would be fine for them to walk on. I think if you put bedding on top of that, it may encourage the hens to scratch in it, and they could injure their toes and feet if they catch it on the hardware cloth below.

Leaving the food and water out in the run is perfectly o.k. They don't need to eat and drink overnight and can fill up in the mornings when you let them out.

 

[Graceyyy]

Welcome to BYC For the sake of easy cleaning, I would put something under the roosts, shavings of some kind or another type of bedding. Chickens make a huge mess on the roosts!

The hardware cloth would be fine for them to walk on. I think if you put bedding on top of that, it may encourage the hens to scratch in it, and they could injure their toes and feet if they catch it on the hardware cloth below.

Leaving the food and water out in the run is perfectly o.k. They don't need to eat and drink overnight and can fill up in the mornings when you let them out.

My only concern about putting shavings on the drop board is that as I slide the board out to clean it, all of those shavings will fall, along with the poop, down into the run underneath the coop. I worry that once it is down there, it would be extremely hard to clean the shavings out of there with the hardware cloth underneath of it. Thoughts?

 

[sumi]

Is the board lined with anything that will make cleaning it easy for you?

 

[Graceyyy]

Is the board lined with anything that will make cleaning it easy for you?

It is just plywood. I bought contact paper to line it with, but it won't stick to the plywood. I am able to completely pull the board out, so it wouldn't be too difficult to spray it off with the hose, but i was also thinking about having my husband lower the track for the board a little bit and getting vinyl flooring to attach to the board.

 

[sumi]

getting vinyl flooring to attach to the board.

That is exactly what I was thinking of. It's cheap enough, durable and you can staple it onto the wood with heavy duty staples. And it's so easy to clean!

 

[rosemarythyme]

we enclosed the entire outdoor run area in hardware cloth, including the floor, to prevent predators from burrowing up underneath the coop. Is that okay for the chickens to walk around on or should I put some sort of bedding down on top of the hardware cloth?

I'm going to disagree with sumi. Wire is not suitable for animal flooring and can cause things like bumblefoot. Also how will you clean out the run if it's nothing but wire on the floor? Imagine trying to rake it out and bits of wet or fresh poop is getting snagged in between each wire grid, sound pretty stinky right? I personally would remove it but since that's not likely to happen, you should put in as much bedding as you can over it so the chickens can still dig and scratch but hopefully with less risk of foot injuries, and so you can feasibly clean it out by raking out the poop with the bedding.

 

[Graceyyy]

I'm going to disagree with sumi. Wire is not suitable for animal flooring and can cause things like bumblefoot. Also how will you clean out the run if it's nothing but wire on the floor? Imagine trying to rake it out and bits of wet or fresh poop is getting snagged in between each wire grid, sound pretty stinky right? I personally would remove it but since that's not likely to happen, you should put in as much bedding as you can over it so the chickens can still dig and scratch but hopefully with less risk of foot injuries, and so you can feasibly clean it out by raking out the poop with the bedding.

Darn! I didn't think of the bumblefoot issue! My husband wanted our coop to be mobile, which means that burying hardware cloth to prevent digging predators won't work.. any ideas on preventing predators from digging under the run and getting into the coop if I remove the hardware cloth? I will have them locked inside at night, so they will be safe then, but I still worry about during the day. We live in a heavily wooded area, directly across the street from a 200 acre game preserve full of predators.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Ahh ok now it makes more sense, I was wondering why you didn't want any bedding at all. How large is the total build? I know it's possible to put an apron on a tractor...

Example: squadleader's posts on this thread https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/chicken-tractor-predator-floor.1229495/ he explains how he made a hinged apron. Maybe some of the info there could help you with your build?

 

[Graceyyy]

Ahh ok now it makes more sense, I was wondering why you didn't want any bedding at all. How large is the total build? I know it's possible to put an apron on a tractor...

Example: squadleader's posts on this thread https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/chicken-tractor-predator-floor.1229495/ he explains how he made a hinged apron. Maybe some of the info there could help you with your build?

Our run is a 4 ft long by 40 inches wide, and then the run area underneath the coop is another 30 inches long by 40 inches wide