A little help with my coop please

[andreanar]

I have to get my coop ready in the next few weeks, and I would like opinions on what I should use on the floor of my coop. I plan to nail down linoleum first so it will be easier to wash out when I do a total clean. But what to put on top of the linoleum? I have come across so many different opinions, ugh confusion! Thanks in advance.

 

[Judy]

I think most people just use some sort of litter, like pine shavings or hay, to absorb some of the odor and mess between cleanings. Litter can be a lot of things, whatever is cheap and accessible for you.

 

[jacrowkieley]

I bought clearance linoleum from lowes, like you said it makes for an easy clean. I use wood shavings from tractor supply & it works good for me. I heard wood pellets are better, but I haven't tried or priced it.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I’m assuming you have a fairly small elevated coop, not a large one that sits on the ground? What you plan to do with the bedding when you clean it out might make a difference too. If you are going to compost it, then it should be compostable.

The reason you get so many different opinions is that so many different things work. There is no one thing that is right for each and every one of us where everything else is a bad choice. Like Judy said, what’s cheap and accessible for you and will meet you requirements?

Many people use wood shavings, pine or aspen, not cedar. Pine and aspen should be less expensive plus cedar shaving can give off harmful fumes in an enclosed space. Cedar lumber is fine to use in the coop but shavings have a lot more surface area so they give off a lot more fumes.

Some other materials used are wood chips, straw, hay, really well dried grass clippings, Spanish moss, and shredded paper. Don’t use shredded newspaper since the ink will stain everything black. If the coop is on the ground and you don’t have a floor, sand or just plain dirt can work, but yours has a floor.

Some people just go with linoleum and scrape it pretty often. Bedding should absorb moisture and allow you to go longer without cleaning but if you scrape it out regularly and want pure manure for your compost, no bedding may be the way to go. If you clean regularly with bedding you can get quite a volume of stuff to compost or dispose of so your management practices make a difference.

There are a lot of things like this with chickens. There are so many different things that can work that all the options become confusing. Good luck!

 

[andreanar]

I have a 8 foot by 12 foot wooden shed that has been converted into a coop. In the next few weeks I will be busy getting it all ready for my girls. I'm super excited, I'm sure you have all been here once! Lol. I was thinking of trying the deep litter method.

 

[Hokum Coco]

I have to get my coop ready in the next few weeks, and I would like opinions on what I should use on the floor of my coop. I plan to nail down linoleum first so it will be easier to wash out when I do a total clean. But what to put on top of the linoleum? I have come across so many different opinions, ugh confusion! Thanks in advance.

My Coop is a salvaged 4x8 metal shed insulated with Styrofoam covered with veneer from interior doors from Habitat From Humanity. Here are a few tips and a quick look at my set up.
My floor are planks with a layer of tin for rodent proofing. On top of the tin I have a piece of vinyl flooring cut one foot longer than the length and width of my coop (roughly). Six inches squares are cut out of the 4 corners of the vinyl flooring. This allows the friction fitted flooring to travel up the walls six inches around the perimeter of my 4x8 salvaged metal coop. Shovel out the heavy stuff into a wheel barrow. Pop out the vinyl flooring hose it off pop it back in.
Easy Peasy!

Bedding
I have used all types of litter for coops.

I have not tried sand (sand gets good reviews on this site).

Of all the things I tried to date wood pellets have been the best. (I tried wood pellets as a last resort when pine shavings were not available.) They are super absorbent and swell up and eventually turn to saw dust. The droppings just seem to vanish and turn to dust when it comes in contact with wood pellets .

Replace my litter and clean my coop every October after I harvest my garden.


Works for me in my deep litter method.

I do add to pellets from time to time.

I have anywhere from 10 to 24 birds housed in my 4x8 coop.

Through the winter months the pellets froze harder than concrete with -40º temperatures. The poop froze before it could be absorbed by the pellets and there was like a crusty layer of poop in certain areas where they collectively took aim (no smell, messy feet or flies @ -40º). When the crust got big enough to handle with gloves I picked it up and dropped it into my compost bin. Come April things started to look after themselves.

Nest boxes
In my nest boxes I fold a feed bag to fit (nest boxes are 1 ft³). When a bag gets soiled; fold a new one; pop out the soiled; pop in the new. Feed bags are a nylon mesh bag frozen poop just peels off in below freezing temperatures and just flakes off in summer when left out in the sun to bake and dry.



POOP BOARDS are the "BEST" addition yet. Handles well over ½ of the poop in my set up keeps ammonia smell in check 3½" below roost excellent for catching eggs laid through the night (roost are in cups for easier removal and cleaning). I recently friction fit a piece of vinyl flooring over my poop board.it makes clean up even easier; Pop out; Scrap; Hose; Pop in.

Winter months even easier flex over compost bin DONE!

Easy peasy!.

 

[Chickendigger]

I use linoluem also but don't use anything on top of that. At first, I put shavings over the flooring but I couldn't see that they served any purpose. From time to time one of the girls will poop on the floor, but each day while I'm cleaning the poop board, I take a minute to clean and sweep the floor if need be, once a week I mop it so for most of the time, it really looks nice. Good Luck!

 

[andreanar]

My Coop is a salvaged 4x8 metal shed insulated with Styrofoam covered with veneer from interior doors from Habitat From Humanity. Here are a few tips and a quick look at my set up.
My floor are planks with a layer of tin for rodent proofing. On top of the tin I have a piece of vinyl flooring cut one foot longer than the length and width of my coop (roughly). Six inches squares are cut out of the 4 corners of the vinyl flooring. This allows the friction fitted flooring to travel up the walls six inches around the perimeter of my 4x8 salvaged metal coop. Shovel out the heavy stuff into a wheel barrow. Pop out the vinyl flooring hose it off pop it back in.
Easy Peasy!

Bedding
I have used all types of litter for coops.

I have not tried sand (sand gets good reviews on this site).

Of all the things I tried to date wood pellets have been the best. (I tried wood pellets as a last resort when pine shavings were not available.) They are super absorbent and swell up and eventually turn to saw dust. The droppings just seem to vanish and turn to dust when it comes in contact with wood pellets .

Replace my litter and clean my coop every October after I harvest my garden.


Works for me in my deep litter method.

I do add to pellets from time to time.

I have anywhere from 10 to 24 birds housed in my 4x8 coop.

Through the winter months the pellets froze harder than concrete with -40º temperatures. The poop froze before it could be absorbed by the pellets and there was like a crusty layer of poop in certain areas where they collectively took aim (no smell, messy feet or flies @ -40º). When the crust got big enough to handle with gloves I picked it up and dropped it into my compost bin. Come April things started to look after themselves.

Nest boxes
In my nest boxes I fold a feed bag to fit (nest boxes are 1 ft³). When a bag gets soiled; fold a new one; pop out the soiled; pop in the new. Feed bags are a nylon mesh bag frozen poop just peels off in below freezing temperatures and just flakes off in summer when left out in the sun to bake and dry.



POOP BOARDS are the "BEST" addition yet. Handles well over ½ of the poop in my set up keeps ammonia smell in check 3½" below roost excellent for catching eggs laid through the night (roost are in cups for easier removal and cleaning). I recently friction fit a piece of vinyl flooring over my poop board.it makes clean up even easier; Pop out; Scrap; Hose; Pop in.

Winter months even easier flex over compost bin DONE!

Easy peasy!.

Thank you! Very helpful. Can I get "poop boards" explained to me? What material are they made of, what is the size and where do I need to put them?

 

[estamets]

There have been great reviews in other places for sand, and for Sweet PDZ (used in horse stalls). I've got a very small elevated coop with a pull out droppings tray, and I plan to use PDZ in it; I should be able to scoop the poop out like kitty litter.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Chickens poop a lot when they are on the roost. If you put something under there to catch that poop you can get it out of your coop and reduce the poop load your coop has to carry. That can really extend how often you need to clean the bedding out.

There are a whole lot of different ways you can do that. Some people use plywood and leave it bare or maybe paint it. Some do that and put linoleum on top to make it easier to scrape. Some make trays and add some type of bedding to help absorb the poop. Some fill these with sand and use a cat litter scoop to get out the bigger chinks. Some people make slide-out trays so they can slide them out of the coop through a slot for easier access. Some build or buy bins to put under the roosts so they can be carried outside.

The droppings board should extend about a foot away from both sides of the roosts. You’ll get most of the poop that way.

Mine is the top of my built-in brooder, just plywood I scrape. The brooder didn’t go all the way across so I got a couple of plastic bins at Walmart and set those on the coop floor.