I did all the tile work in our new house, so I'm pretty familiar with tile, and actually thought about doing the coop floor in tile as well, except that I don't have spare tile that isn't needed in case of cracked tiles in the house - or the spares are slate or travertine, which I wouldn't recommend you use because of sealing and cleaning issues.
If you live in a cold climate, make sure you insulate under the floor or the tiles could get pretty cold, especially if the floor is elevated. Use a tile backer board (like Hardieboard) or red seal over fairly thick plywood for the floor. I'd use the smallest tile spacers for the narrowest seams and a bunch of coats of sealer on the grout. Use porcelain or ceramic tile, not stone, so the tiles themselves don't have to be sealed - preferably a tile with a slight texture on the face so it isn't all that slick, but not too much texturing or it'll catch dirt and muck. Any tile you have to cut, make sure to use the diamond hone on the cut edges.
ETA: thought of a few more things. Is you coop fixed? That is, built in place and not meant to be moved? Otherwise, depending on the sixe of the structure and rigidity, moving it could easily crack the grout - one move and one grout crack is not big deal, it's easy to patch, but frequent moves would be a pain to fix.
Also, you're still going to have to use a fairly thick litter over the tiles for the chickens to walk on, but it will certainly be easy to hose out during cleaning.
If you live in a cold climate, make sure you insulate under the floor or the tiles could get pretty cold, especially if the floor is elevated. Use a tile backer board (like Hardieboard) or red seal over fairly thick plywood for the floor. I'd use the smallest tile spacers for the narrowest seams and a bunch of coats of sealer on the grout. Use porcelain or ceramic tile, not stone, so the tiles themselves don't have to be sealed - preferably a tile with a slight texture on the face so it isn't all that slick, but not too much texturing or it'll catch dirt and muck. Any tile you have to cut, make sure to use the diamond hone on the cut edges.
ETA: thought of a few more things. Is you coop fixed? That is, built in place and not meant to be moved? Otherwise, depending on the sixe of the structure and rigidity, moving it could easily crack the grout - one move and one grout crack is not big deal, it's easy to patch, but frequent moves would be a pain to fix.
Also, you're still going to have to use a fairly thick litter over the tiles for the chickens to walk on, but it will certainly be easy to hose out during cleaning.
Last edited: