Building my first coop and was wondering if anyone ever did this

[ChickChick0811]

I'm in the process of building a coop for 5 BO. This will be my first chicken coop. I was thinking about lining the floor and some of the inside wall with linoleum so it can be cleaned easier. I found a roll pretty cheap in Lowes and thought it might work. I am doing a deep litter method so there will be about 5 inches of shavings on top of it. I was also thinking I might line the walls 1/2 way up with it as well. Any thoughts on this? Anyone use anything different to make cleaning a bit easier? THANKS SO MUCH FOR YOUR HELP!

 

[HHandbasket]

Yep, that's what we used in a coop we built recently, and it's easy to hose it out once in a while with linoleum on the floor like that. Just make sure you let it THOROUGHLY dry before putting any bedding back in. But yes, it's a good idea & it facilitates cleanup.

 

[Carolyn252]

Lots of people don't cover the ground with anything if using the deep litter method. All the wood shavings go directly on top of the earth. I do it that way. I empty out all the used shavings only once a year, in the Spring. All the used shavings go directly onto the compost pile. Fresh clean shavings then go down in the coop. I mix in a good amount of DE (food grade DE) and that's it. I only have three hens. Coop's litter is stirred up maybe once a month with a rake. I add more DE and shavings maybe every two months. It NEVER smells. Every morning I look at the roost board and if there are any droppings there, I easily scrape them off with a long handled barbeque tool that hangs from a handy hook on the wall. I then spray the roost board a quick squirt of a 50/50 solution of white vinegar and water, and toss a paper towel onto the wet board. The barbeque scraper then pushes the towel around to wipe down the board and then I flick the dirty towel into the trash can just outside the coop.

My hands never get dirty as I never have to touch anything yukky. Then I top up their water bowl, check the nestbox for eggs, and in five minutes flat I'm outta there.

 

[ChickChick0811]

Thanks guys! My coop is actually off the ground by 18" I live in NY and it can get very cold/snowy here in the winter. I heard in cold climates to raise the coop up?! I could be wrong, but I figured that that would also give them a place to go and hide if they wanted to. I guess that's not the deep litter method then huh

I'm still going to put lots of shavings down and clean it as often as it needs cleaning. I'm probably going to over clean the coop knowing me...lol A friend of mine (who knows nothing about chickens) said "why don't you use the paint they use on boats. They said it was water proof and would be able to handle being washed real well. I don't know if that is toxic to them so I figured I would stick with the linoleum.

 

[VelvettFog]

My coop is raised off the ground - and I used lino as flooring -- there are some pictures in my siggy.

VF

 

[brian1970]

you guys have the best ideas i wish i would have thought of the linoleum idea when i built my coop a few months back