Best floor/bedding material

[biscuit7]

I am looking for an alternative bedding/flooring solution in my chicken house. The chickens like roosting in the rafters so they poop all over the straw on the floor. It doesn't take long before it's nasty. To be honest I don't change it often enough (2.5 and 4 month old make it difficult) and I'm tired of buying straw bales that grt nasty fast. I want a better option for my hens. Preferably something not expensive. Anyone have any advice? Thank you!

 

[Coolbreeze89]

I use pine shavings and deep litter method (lots of posts about DLM). Definitely try to add poop boards under your rafters. They make a HUGE difference in keeping coop clean.

 

[ChickNanny13]

I would suggest Poop Boards under roosts but rafters, not sure it's feasible, sure saves on clean time. I have shavings (Rose Bud) on my dirt ground floor, just keep adding (DLM) as need, use tongs to pick up the big stuff & ferment feed (less poop, firmer poop & not stinky ... part of the benefits).

Edited: Coolbreeze89 PDZ in the poop board is great too

 

[Compost King]

I use straw and when I see Poop accumulate I put straw over it... wood chips work just as well. Clean it out every late april or early May which works out great as it gets deep it generates heat. Its not why I picked April/May, I have a composting schedule to keep. If I did strictly on a chicken schedule I would clean it out the first warm day in spring since a deep litter coop floor generates heat.

I have also had chickens that roosted on Rafters... about 60 of them at that time, if I went into the coop I had to worry about raining Poop lol. Sometimes I would go in and fill feeders or collect eggs after dark... I would look up with a flash light and try to pick out a path based on Vent movement lol.

 

[Folly's place]

I use mostly bagged shavings, not straw. Having horses, straw is traditional, but much harder to manage. Shavings are much better!
Mary

 

[ChickNanny13]

2x Folly's place Have used straw in the past, harder to rake & manage. We get alot of rain here, when the shavings get soaked I "dry" them out & toss them back in

 

[Killer Tomato]

I use sand. I'm in the land of rain, and it helps clean off wet, muddy feet in the winter. Takes about 2 minutes to scoop poops in the morning, with 9 hens. I have poop boards under the roosts, and I scrape them off every day, too.

 

[biscuit7]

Thanks for all the advice so far! I definitely would love to have poop boards (can I say that?? Haha) however my hens jump down from the rafters and I wouldn't want them colliding with them. We have blocked off part of the rafters over the food and water to help limit poop in those. I've thought of doing that with the rest of the rafters and just having them use the lower roosting boards. Here's a picture of my coop. This is an old pic but the only things that have changed are the water and hanging food have been moved over to the left.

 

[tigger19687]

Yeah, I would just wire over the rafters and make them stay lower on a roost with a poop board under it.
Work smarter, not harder. make clean up easier

 

[JMotuzick]

Poop boards! Sweet pdz!

Shavings in the coop wood chips in the run.