Cement floor or wood with lineoleum?

[pati-o]

My daughter shows Seramas, and we have 6. We also have 6 meat birds that will go to fair in a couple of weeks and since I've got to feed seramas all winter and the feed store had Isa Brown chicks..... well you can guess what I've done! I got 8 egg layers. Now we've out grown our 4x6 coop. We're redoing an 8x12 pony shed that currently has a dirt floor. I am trying to decide whether to make a wood floor or pour cement? (we have a cement truck delivering cement saturday for our porch floor and could easily have them bring more that same day for our coop. My hubby wants to pour cement and put in a floor drain for easy cleaning. SHould I pour cement or go with an insulated wood floor?
Thanks for the advice!
Pati

 

[ravenfeathers]

in your climate, i'd definitely recommend a wood floor, insulated or not. concrete is going to be damp and cold and the drain in the middle is going to get clogged up with feathers and poo and bedding and be useless in the long run. vinyl or lino is going to make it really easy to clean and it's going to be much kinder on their feet.

 

[wynedot55]

since you have the concrete truck coming id go ahead an use concrete for the floor.but i dont know if i would put a drain line in it.because the shavings an litter could stop up the drain line.you can hoe an shovel out the litter an shavings.

 

[NorTracNY]

As for what floor type I'll let others help there. I just know that if you put in a drain, you can do it, just make sure you put in the kind with a trap. Getting clogged should not be an issue. We have that type in our horse wash stall.

 

[dixygirl]

Personally i would go with the cement with the drain if a truck is already coming. When it gets yucky under that bedding and it is time to take it all out and clean the floor, a garden hose and that drain will be your best friends.

If you went with the linoleum, when that time for a complete cleaning comes around you would be changing your mop water several times. Wetting the wood and linoleum can lead to rot, and mildew underneath it all. You will sooner have to rip it all up and put new materials down in a few years. In your house it is OK but in a chicken coop with damp feces on the floor it is a little trickier.

The cement will be permanent and easy to clean. You also wont have to worry about any predator chewing their way into cement.

If you are really concerned about the cement floor being cool even with pine shavings for them to insulate themselves, they sell a radiant floor heating mat at Home Depot and Lowes that you can set in the cement. One of those mats may run about $100 and you can put a thermostat on it. The floor would radiate heat if you turn it on. I would not bother personally. I would let the pine shavings act like a layer of insulation. Also if you put South facing windows in there the sun will heat up the cement even in the winter.


I didn't have a cement truck coming. I just dumped bags of cement on the ground and hosed them. Turned out the same.

PS If the drain ever runs slow, even with a screen on it... just dump some baking soda and vinegar down the drain.

Good luck which ever way you go.
dixy

 

[WrenAli]

I would do a sloped cement floor leading to a drain culvert outside. I have my meat chicks on cement and it is so easy to clean. Can anyone say pressure washer?

 

[dangerouschicken]

cement. Super easy to deal with and no need to replace later.

 

[KellyGwen]

If you go with the drain I would keep it covered while there was bedding in the coop then remove the cover once or twice a year after you take all of the bedding out... that way the bedding and poo wouldn't clog it up so badly...

If it was mine I would slope the concrete and make a covered trench that ran downhill to the outside so you could easily hose it out without worrying about clogging anything. Sort of like the trenches they have for cow stalls... Just make the cover metal and have it bolt down so that predators and drafts can't use it as an entrance to the coop.

 

[pati-o]

Thanks everyone! My DH has talked me into the cement. We'll be adding wood platforms to keep the girls off of the cement this winter. (kind of like wooden grids that can be moved- maybe 4ft by 4 ft) The floor wont have a smooth finish, and I hope to be able to paint it before we move the girls in. (or at least seal it. ) I think we'll make the drain a closed one, with a lid that we can take off when we clean the floor. and since the coop has a hill behind it, the slope and water run off shouldn't be a problem.
THanks!!

 

[dixygirl]

Sounds wonderful. I used Drylok paint to seal my cement from moisture