Cement Coop floor

[ZMamagoose]

I am renting a house with an old chicken coop on the property, we have already began fixing it up and aside from putting in a new chicken door, building the run, and patching up a whole we will be done. But I'm curious what's best to put on this cement floor, it's cracked so I can't put down laminate. Do I just throw down pine shavings?!
Here is an old photo of it, any advice on the inside in general world be helpful!

 

[Amy 4]

My chicken floor is cement and I through down some shavings my gaps aren’t that big but I you wanted you your try filling them with cement. Good luck

 

[Howard E]

Pine shavings, bark mulch.......old grass hay. Something that was once part of a living plant. Cover the floor with at least a couple inches to start, and build it up to about the level of that baseboard over time. Will work about like a disposable diaper and serves the same purpose.

How big and deep are those cracks? Normally, a cement floor like that is a good thing, but those cracks are large enough to harbor rats down below and allow them easy entry into that coop through the cracks. If you suspect that rats might be a problem, can you fill in those cracks with a grout of quickcrete?

And can you post a photo of the whole thing?

 

[ZMamagoose]

We reframed the windows on the coop side so far and need to fill in the gaps between the shed and coop and too of door inside with hardware cloth still. There is a small hole that also needs to be secured - what is the best option for that?!
Then add roosts and nesting boxes

 

[ZMamagoose]

Pine shavings, bark mulch.......old grass hay. Something that was once part of a living plant. Cover the floor with at least a couple inches to start, and build it up to about the level of that baseboard over time. Will work about like a disposable diaper and serves the same purpose.

How big and deep are those cracks? Normally, a cement floor like that is a good thing, but those cracks are large enough to harbor rats down below and allow them easy entry into that coop through the cracks. If you suspect that rats might be a problem, can you fill in those cracks with a grout of quickcrete?

And can you post a photo of the whole thing?

As far as I know there are no rats (that we've ever seen) only Field mice, the cracks are maybe 2-3 inches at most that we could full if need be!

 

[featherhead007]

fill the cracks, then use deep litter method. I did and it's working perfectly

 

[barneveldrerman]

There are a few ways you could do this.

1) You could put shavings.
2) you could do the deep litter method.(consisting of shavings and other organic materials.

There are many more, but I think these would be the most practical. I have concrete floors and personally use shavings. They work great and it is fairly easy to clean the coop.

If you fill in the cracks, that would probably be better but it is not necessary if you don't have many rodents.

If you have any more questions, don't hesitate to ask!

 

[aart]

What is your location?
Are you only using part of the building for the coop?
What is that platform and hinged 'door'?

Definitely add some concrete patch to the crack in floor.
Is the hole in the back in concrete or just some metal flashing?

 

[ZMamagoose]

What is your location?
Are you only using part of the building for the coop?
What is that platform and hinged 'door'?

Definitely add some concrete patch to the crack in floor.
Is the hole in the back in concrete or just some metal flashing?

We're in southern Minnesota, we think that the hinged door space was used as a brooder but we don't know, the platform on top didn't make much sense to us either.
Someone put metal over a rock that was covering the hole - we are looking to secure it better then that

 

[aart]

I'd tear that platform out and use the wood to construct nests, roosts, and such.

Looking closer at the hole and metal....looks like hole is chewed in wood and metal flashing is along entire bottom outside of wall was used in lieu of missing siding.