Can it be too big?

[Sinfonian]

The only problem I see is if you're using something like pine shavings on the floor, that could run a pretty penny to keep covered. Other than that, great idea! Splitting it's great too.

 

[patandchickens]

IME the litter cost is only upfront, to bed the area initially. After that, if anything it seems to cost LESS when you have fewer chickens in a larger space, because you do not do major cleanouts often if ever. Just spot-clean areas that get 'bad', and add more bedding as needed.

I find that about 3 bales of shavings gives a reasonable initial bedding coverage on a 7x20 area, then add a little more as time passes and the initial stuff gets packed down and starts to disintegrate. If you want to start with a deeper bedding pack you can add another bale or two I suppose... it's still only $30-40 overall and not going to be repeated for a year or three.

Pat

 

[TigerLilly]

I can only agree with what everyone else has said and tell you how jealous i am!

 

[Delmar]

Quote:
Just so I'm clear, Is it a wood plank floor, a foot off the ground? Or is it a dirt floor with the wall of the barn raised on beams?

 

[Delmar]

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Actually the building we had was so big it didn't require any bedding at all to keep the floor dry! We just use a scraper and pushed out the dry poop every so often. I really liked what elmo had to say. I am going to incorporate a droppings tray into my design for sure!

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[schatze]

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Just so I'm clear, Is it a wood plank floor, a foot off the ground? Or is it a dirt floor with the wall of the barn raised on beams?

It's a wood plank floor that we actually need to replace. It looks like it has dry rot. The barn itself is metal with windows.

 

[Delmar]

Quote:
Just so I'm clear, Is it a wood plank floor, a foot off the ground? Or is it a dirt floor with the wall of the barn raised on beams?

It's a wood plank floor that we actually need to replace. It looks like it has dry rot. The barn itself is metal with windows.

Are you sure you need to replace it? And old wood barn floor can be pretty creaky and pretty ugly and still hold your weight.

 

[schatze]

There's a big hole in the center of it, and the rest looks questionable.

 

[Delmar]

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If you are not concerned with how it looks a piece of plywood and some nails can do wonders for a barn floor. I couldn't tell you without walking on it. I tested one barn floor by building a big walker out of 2x4 s to spread the weight out so I had something to hold on to while I jumped up and down in the middle. I did bust through at one place and have to fix it. Please don't take this as a recommendation for you though. You could hurt yourself trying.