Best flooring for run in Coastal South Carolina Lowcountry

[LovieG]

Hello, I'm new to this site and very new to chickens but have found so much valuable information here so far. I am in need of quite a bit of advice and am so appreciative of any and all info I can learn here. I have four 5 week old chicks that I believe will be ready to go out to their coop next week. I bought a pre-fab coop but I've added a metal automatic door, and a lot of extra reinforcement around it as well as new locks with carabiners to keep predators at bay. I know that Tractor Supply Co coops sometimes get a bad rap but this particular one is fairly new and had much better reviews online than the other ones and has thicker wood, etc. The guys at the store that usually put the floor samples together told me this is the only one they would recommend as it seems to be built better than the rest. Regardless, its what I am using for now and my questions aren't really about the coop itself. It has a second floor or 'raised' coop with run area under the coop and run area extending out with a covered roof but part of the roof is pretty tall so the rain will get into the run floor at times. I am planning on laying hardware cloth (I think thats what you call it) flat on the ground under the coop and hopefully staple gun it directly to the bottom of the coop so it is secure all the way around. I need to keep the digging creatures from coming in from the bottom. My main concern at the moment is about flooring. My run does not have a floor (other than the hardware cloth I plan on attaching along the bottom). Originally, I was going to lay down a horse stall mat (or several depending on size) as flooring material with a large layer of shavings. Now I am considering river sand as I've read that the course river sand is better than fine sand. I'm assuming I shouldn't put down a stall mat if I am using the river sand as I will need good drainage. This area of my yard never floods and never has drainage problems. Should I just put several inches of river sand directly over the grass that is there now? What about bacteria/disease with having bare ground - I believe somewhere on this site I read that with using bare ground, microbes / bacteria can move freely into the bedding??? Maybe I misread that though. Should I put down a floor first? What are everyones thoughts on river sand vs. shavings as a run floor and/or as a coop floor? ** One other question is about my pre-fab roof. It came with a plastic corrugated roof that seems to be pretty sturdy. However, I have shingles left over as we recently replaced the roof on our house. Should I make a shingled roof using plywood instead, or would the corrugated roof help better with ventilation at the top of the coop since we are in a fairly humid coastal area? Would the corrugated roof retain too much moisture in our humid climate or would the shingled plywood roof? The corrugated ends of the roof make me nervous for small snakes getting in, so I am planning on stapling the top of the coop/run with hardware cloth before nailing the roof on. This way if a snake were to creep up into the edges of the corrugated roof, they would only be able to slither across the hardware cloth and out the other end of the roof.

So, now I see this is a lot of questions so I'll try to get to the point below. Any advice is VERY MUCH APPRECIATED for this novice chicken lady!

(#1) Recommended material to use for the floor of my run (and coop if it should be different) for my area?

(#2) Whether I should add a floor (such as a horse stall mat, pavers, or other)?

(#3) If I add river sand, would the chickens take their "sand baths" in it, or would I need a separate area of poop-less sand for baths?

(#4) Roofing.... keep corrugated plastic or switch to plywood and shingles instead?

(internet stock photo of my coop is attached)

 

[wamtazlady]

Chickens love to scratch. If you put hardware cloth or a mat to cover the run they will not be able to scratch in the dirt or take a needed dirt bath. Instead put an apron around your coop. My apron is made of hardware cloth. It attaches to the bottom of the coop and extends out a couple feet around the outside of the run. A predator wanting to dig into the coop will try to dig next to the coop. They won't think that they need to start digging 2 feet away. By doing an apron the chickens will be able to scratch and take dirt baths. The floor of my run is dirt. It works very well.

 

[LovieG]

Thank you for the information. ;-)

 

[3KillerBs]

What kind of ground are you on?

I'm in the NC Sandhills so my ground was already sandy and well-drained. I didn't want the work of having to pooperscoop my coop so I went with deep litter in the run and the anti-digging apron on the outside.

I used a mix of wood chips, shavings, pine straw, fall leaves, straw, and whatever other compost browns came into my hands. I never had an odor problem even though I probably had one more chicken than I ought to have in the space I had available.

 

[aart]

What kind of bedding you use may depend on how you manage the manure.
This is about cleaning, but covers my big picture

-I use poop boards under roosts with thin(<1/2") layer of sand/PDZ mix, sifted daily(takes 5-10mins) into bucket going to friends compost.

-Scrape big or wet poops off roost and ramps as needed.

-Pine shavings on coop floor, add some occasionally, totally changed out once or twice a year, old shavings added to run.

- My runs have semi-deep litter(cold composting), never clean anything out, just add smaller dry materials on occasion, add larger wood chippings as needed.
Aged ramial wood chippings are best IMO.

-Nests are bedded with straw, add some occasionally, change out if needed(broken egg).

There is no odor, unless a fresh cecal has been dropped and when I open the bucket to add more poop.

That's how I keep it 'clean', have not found any reason to clean 'deeper' in 5 years.

 

[Michellemcg]

What kind of bedding you use may depend on how you manage the manure.
This is about cleaning, but covers my big picture

-I use poop boards under roosts with thin(<1/2") layer of sand/PDZ mix, sifted daily(takes 5-10mins) into bucket going to friends compost.

-Scrape big or wet poops off roost and ramps as needed.

-Pine shavings on coop floor, add some occasionally, totally changed out once or twice a year, old shavings added to run.

- My runs have semi-deep litter(cold composting), never clean anything out, just add smaller dry materials on occasion, add larger wood chippings as needed.
Aged ramial wood chippings are best IMO.

-Nests are bedded with straw, add some occasionally, change out if needed(broken egg).

There is no odor, unless a fresh cecal has been dropped and when I open the bucket to add more poop.

That's how I keep it 'clean', have not found any reason to clean 'deeper' in 5 years.

What is pdz mix?

 

[aart]

What is pdz mix?

Sweet PDZ(zeolite) mixed with sand.....I just use the PDZ now as I can't find good sand anymore.
Get the granulated, found in the horse aisle at farm stores.