8x8 coop or 10x12 coop?

[Vacman]

I have straw in my hoop house. So far, that's worked out well for me but you could also use wood chips to reduce the mud. Then put straw on top of that. The chickens will scratch and mix that stuff up so you might have to redo it from year to year. I plan to take the straw with the chicken droppings and use it as a base for my compost pile next spring.

 

[rayrose]

I have linoleum over my polyurothaned plywood coop floor. It has stood up very well and makes the coop very easy to clean

 

[Vacman]

Polyurethene would seal the wood floor. Linoleun would be easy to clean. Even more durable would be formica, laminated to the coop floor. Mine is sealed and so far, with the added straw, that has worked well. On top of the sealed sheets, I also got three of these trays: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004EVHFLI/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1. The length of the tray fills the width of my coop and three of them cover the floor leaving maybe 10" on the end where the chicken door is. To clean the coop, I open the large door, slide the trays out one at a time into a wheelbarrow, collect the straw and droppings for the compost pile, hose off the trays and start over. The sealed floor stays pretty clean.

 

[Ridgerunner]

What would you guys recommend? Could I just use a good wood sealer?

My floor is dirt so I don't have that problem. Does your shed sit on the ground or is it elevated? Do you have to put in your wooden floor? The soil under my coop (actually the end of a shed) is a bit high to start with. I hauled in a few inches worth of dirt to raise it even higher to help keep rainwater runoff out. Then I put a berm and swale on the uphill side to divert water away. It stays really dry.

Some people use Black Jack, sort of a rubberized paint, to seal the floor and up on the sides a bit. Linoleum is also popular.

in the new run I would like to use sand. I’ve read online play sand for a sand box is no good for chickens.

Pat talks about some of that in this link. If you use gravel I suggest something round and smooth, not sharp, so they are less likely to cut their feet when scratching.

Pat’s Big Ol' Mud Page (fixing muddy runs):

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/how-to-fix-a-muddy-run-chicken-coop.47807/

I'm not sure why you read that play sand is bad for chickens. What are your specific concerns or did you just read it is bad without a reason why? The purpose of the sand in this use is that it drains well. Play sand drains well. Very young chicks can use sand as grit, the courser it is the better it works. Play sand is so fine it will pass straight on through the gizzard so chicks cannot use it for grit. So play sand is bad for baby chicks to use as grit.

Play sand is so fine it can stick to your shoes and clothes. The chickens too until they shake it off. Maybe this is a concern?

I don't use sand, I don't need it in the run or coop. If you can fix your run so water drains out the water will drain out. But the water has to have some place to go. If you dig a hole and fill it with sand in soil that will not drain all you've done is trap the water in a hole that has sand in it. With the chicken poop in the sand that can soon start to smell. Water is the real enemy, you need to get rid of it if you can't keep it out. Poop build-up can also cause issues. The bigger the run the more the poop is spread out so the less it builds up. The behavior of the chickens is not the only reason bigger is better.

Sand is like any other tool. If you use it correctly in the right application it can work well. If you don't use it correctly it doesn't.

 

[2006powerstroke90]

As always, nothing but great info here.

I don’t have the shed yet, but it will not be sitting on dirt, there will be stone and then it will be placed on concrete blocks. I’m sure if I put down a bunch of hay or bedding it’ll absorb most of the moisture from their pee/poop before I have to worry about the wood rotting out. I saw people using linoleum but my brother made a good point as if it’s raining out and my crocs get wet it could be awfully slippery. But he may be a little over dramatic.

as far as the run goes I’ve done some reading on the sand part, I’ve read(on the internet) that play sand is a lot dustier then construction sand and isn’t good for the chickens to breathe in the dust when they’re digging looking for stuff underneath.

if play sand will work-like the stuff I use in my kids sand box I will use that. My run will be framed out with 2x8s or 2x10s depending on how high the shed ends up when it’s delivered.
Ideally I’d like to lay small stone down for drainage, and put a couple inches of sand throughout the run so if they dig down they’d really have to dig before they hit any stone.

in my current run I usually lay down hay/straw but it’s a matter of minutes before all the hay is in piles from them scratching right thru it to the dirt.

 

[aart]

I saw people using linoleum but my brother made a good point as if it’s raining out and my crocs get wet it could be awfully slippery. But he may be a little over dramatic.

I use vinyl, heavy duty foam backed, and have never slipped in my wet crocs.
Tho the chickens sometimes wipe out when rumbling, especially with fresh pine shavings.

I'd advise against sand as bedding unless you want to spend a lot of time scooping poop,
and live in an arid climate to help dry things out.

 

[Vacman]

In my current run I usually lay down hay/straw but it’s a matter of minutes before all the hay is in piles from them scratching right thru it to the dirt.

But that's what chickens do. They're trying to dig down to uncover bugs & seeds to eat. There wouldn't be much nourishment in sand for them.

 

[Auntiejessi3]

As always, nothing but great info here.

I don’t have the shed yet, but it will not be sitting on dirt, there will be stone and then it will be placed on concrete blocks. I’m sure if I put down a bunch of hay or bedding it’ll absorb most of the moisture from their pee/poop before I have to worry about the wood rotting out. I saw people using linoleum but my brother made a good point as if it’s raining out and my crocs get wet it could be awfully slippery. But he may be a little over dramatic.

as far as the run goes I’ve done some reading on the sand part, I’ve read(on the internet) that play sand is a lot dustier then construction sand and isn’t good for the chickens to breathe in the dust when they’re digging looking for stuff underneath.

if play sand will work-like the stuff I use in my kids sand box I will use that. My run will be framed out with 2x8s or 2x10s depending on how high the shed ends up when it’s delivered.
Ideally I’d like to lay small stone down for drainage, and put a couple inches of sand throughout the run so if they dig down they’d really have to dig before they hit any stone.

in my current run I usually lay down hay/straw but it’s a matter of minutes before all the hay is in piles from them scratching right thru it to the dirt.

My coop floor is polyurethaned, works wonderfully! On basic cleaning weeks broom and dust pan to sweep up all the pine shavings and replace. Every couple of months I bust out the hose and give everything a good spray very little scraping going on. As far as my run goes it's 16x12 just straight grass. I rake every couple of weeks and use the garden weasel to aerate the soil and grass.

 

[2006powerstroke90]

Thanks for the info....I realize chickens try to find stuff in the dirt and everything else.

I will look into flooring to put over the floor inside the coop.
My run was once nice and grassy but they have since turned it into dirt. With the rain and stuff It’s kind of hard to avoid the mud. Granted the chain link fence isn’t very water tight at the bottom and hopefully the new run that’s framed out with an actual roof will help when it comes to keeping it dry

 

[paintedChix]

My run was once nice and grassy but they have since turned it into dirt. With the rain and stuff It’s kind of hard to avoid the mud. Granted the chain link fence isn’t very water tight at the bottom and hopefully the new run that’s framed out with an actual roof will help when it comes to keeping it dry

Sounds like you will need to divert the water from the edges of your run and coop. Lots of ways to do that - berm and swale, trenches, french drain, gutters on a roofed run & possibly others (?). Look around BYC, I'm don't have good advice. Your chickens can and may dig down at the base of your run (the wooden edging). This can allow chickens out, water and predators in. You just shift it back or bury some type of footing in your run that goes below ground. The ground aprons will keep predators from getting in and you can keep it deep in DLM. You can always move material around to refill holes.

Our coop/pens are open air due to where we are (heat/humidity more of an issue than snow/cold) in the sandhills of NC. We have sand. A lot of sand. I hate sand. We have had multiple varieties of wild life, ponies, horses, chickens, ducks, dogs and cats in our 7 acre pasture area. We have had multiple wildlife (some are predators, some not), chickens, ducks, cats and dogs in the yard areas circling the house. I don't know all the types of livestock that has been run off and on through the years on this property - I do know that parts have been cleared in the past and allowed to re-grow into the forested areas we currently have. The feces of any animal never completely gets picked up no matter how you scoop or rake. Then, if that sand gets wet (it can in open air coops like ours), it smells BAD.

So, we are actively trying to change that sand into usable loamy material that will grow grasses, weeds and crops for livestock AND can also be used for gardening in beds directly on the ground, raised beds and hugelmounds. Our chickens help with that by their natural digging, scratching and of course, manuring. In the stationary coop/pens, we use DLM (Deep Litter Method). There are many posts on that here on BYC, I will add a couple to get you started.

I use a lot of different products. I have added in shavings - both fine and coarse - at different times, but not regularly. So, I have both long & short needle pine straw, leaves of various types (mostly oak, but fruit trees starting to drop now, too), weeds, lawn clippings when we mow, shredded paper/cardboard/junk mail, garden trimmings, garden veggies & fruits, trimmings from veggies/fruits we eat, hay and straw, wood chip mulch. As these products break down, they encourage bug life and allow the chickens to scratch down and dig. As it breaks down, we add more. You can tell if we've missed any coop/pens - if it smells or is actively muddy. When it builds up enough that I feel i can remove some to use elsewhere, I do. I never remove all of it as you want it to stay and start new materials to composting down. I am rebuilding our chicken coop/pens so that they can hold up to 10-12" of materials deep at a time to break down. It can take a lot of natural material to layer that deep, LOL...

Our DLM photo album.

DLM on BYC - ChrisnTiff(2007) , Mac (11/11/2007) . Yes, there are other threads out there, but to me these have the most info and a LOT of pictures showing how to do, how to use etc. You can then search BYC from there for the many, many threads on DLM.

Our chicken tractors don't get bedding. Instead they get moved. Depending on the size of the tractor, the number of & type of chickens in it and how old they are - sometimes we wait a week, sometimes every other day and sometimes as much as 2x daily (morn and afternoon feeding). I TRY not to let the birds scratch and dig so much that they create huge holes or even completely destroy the grass but sometimes that happens. Either way, the areas they have been - grow fast and a lot. We deal with the weeds (no chemicals here) by putting the chickens back over them if possible and by mowing when we have to. After 2 years of multiple tractors in our back yard, side yard and front yard - we couldn't keep up with the mowing this past fall - to some of our friends who believe in only lawns - it was "awful", LOL. Have a lot of growth that actually froze down or was knocked down in the extremely wet weather we've been having. That's ok too - green manure for growth next spring. I have trees that were thought to be dead/dying that suddenly in 2020 (we moved in in 2015 - I never thought about established trees in a yard needing to be "fed". I knew nothing of trees), grew like CRAZY due to the fertilization from the moving chicken tractors. In some that's awesome, in others... they need to go now. Working on that, too.