What to line bottom of coop with

[andycowboy]

Another pine shavings person here... we use it in our chicken tractor. Only reason it's not used in the fenced area is because they're on the lawn and moved around weekly.
And the poop trays we use andycowboy are just serving trays that we picked up locally that happened to fit in the roost area. But it depends on your roost area if that would work for you also.

Serving trays? Like regular school/cafeteria food trays? You have a picture of how you did that? Sure sounds easier than building a tray!

 

[andycowboy]

Another pine shavings person here... we use it in our chicken tractor. Only reason it's not used in the fenced area is because they're on the lawn and moved around weekly.
And the poop trays we use andycowboy are just serving trays that we picked up locally that happened to fit in the roost area. But it depends on your roost area if that would work for you also.

Hey, Paul!

Just regular cafeteria/school lunchroom type trays? Or some other type of serving tray? Do you a couple of pictures of what you did? Sounds interesting...and easier than building a tray!

 

[Paul 1952]

Sorry, didn't notice the question andycowboy... take a look in my sig and check out the tractor tour. It's a video that shows what I did....
But yes... pretty much those cafeteria trays. The ones we got were made out of plastic and a little smaller as you'll note
in the video. But worked great for the area we wanted them in.

 

[gickelvolk]

Wheat straw...... They love it and it's easy to clean up after....

 

[jeepguy982001]

i use pine shavings in mine.

 

[Gramma Chick]

We got our babies in april ..2012...we are new to chickens ..this is what works for us .

We use newspaper in our coop . We have a tile floor . We lay the newspaper flat & remove it each day after it drys a bit . if the poop gets past the newspaper we have a turner to scrape it up . It can be sprayed & washed down with a hose ...as needed . I do it occasionally In the winter we will probably use the cross cut newspaper for ease of cleaning it can be layered .. In nesting areas we use cross shredded newspaper .
In the run we use leaves , dried grass clippings , wood sawdust from chainsawing ..They dont eat it ..just sort through it ..Poop sticks to these & it is easier to pick up . You should leave some dirt for them as they love dust baths ...keeps them bug free ..there is some grass growing in there ..what ever is handy . This works for us . Our chicks free range too ..so they arent in the coop all the time .

 

[andycowboy]

Sorry, didn't notice the question andycowboy... take a look in my sig and check out the tractor tour. It's a video that shows what I did....
But yes... pretty much those cafeteria trays. The ones we got were made out of plastic and a little smaller as you'll note
in the video. But worked great for the area we wanted them in.

My apologies, Paul! I didn't think the first comment took, so I did a replacement - wasn't trying to push for an answer! Just took a look at the video - that makes sense...Good lookin' coop, too! Thanks for sharing!

 

[Paul 1952]

My apologies, Paul! I didn't think the first comment took, so I did a replacement - wasn't trying to push for an answer! Just took a look at the video - that makes sense...Good lookin' coop, too! Thanks for sharing!

No worries and didn't think so at all... so depending on your setup you can just use the tray option, unless it's easier to build some sliding thing or another. It's always fun the engineering part!

 

[lordlucille]

I would use slate or wood because when you get heavy rain fall it will get very muddy.

 

[sixcitychicks]

Hi, I am new to 'chickening', but I heard you should not use HAY, because the chickens could get the respiratory illness of aspergillis (sp?). But I use straw when I don't have fallen leaves. They love it. I use this in the run. In the hen house I use large scale pine shavings (not small because of the dust factor). I hope the straw will compost as well as the leaves, but it seems harder to break down. I just didn't have enough leaves in my back yard (maple).
Leaves are in this picture. BTW, they also love pecking at wood logs (in lower right corner), and I give them a fresh one when the current one is all mucky.