Cocci risk in coop? what should i do?

[ChickenPeep]

i have 8 hcickens. thier coop, is a dog pen! we have covered the top of it with fence so no predators can get in. they are shaded from the sun by various trees. they have the option to sleep in 2 coops(both the same) and are protected by rain in the coops. However, the ground of thier cage is cement tiles (they wont stay in the coops all day because there is not enough room, they only sleep in them).recently when i visited, it had rained and the ground was matted with a mixture of moldy corn( they get in thier food bowl and kick it alll around), and feces that gave off a disgusting moldy smell. when the rain got to it, it wan unbearable!!

we are going to build a real chicken coop to put in thier cage and they will have room i it to move around in. The real problem is, what should i do to the ground of the cage? put hay in it? plant grass? take out the tiles? im worried that in these conditions they could get cocci! can someone please help?!?!?!

 

[Judy]

You are right that wet and muddy is good growing media or cocci.

Are you talking about putting a coop in their present run, or cage? That is not going to solve their problem, which a need for a decent place to be outdoors. They don't need to be indoors except to sleep, and usually, lay eggs. Planting grass won't work, they will eat it as soon as it sprouts if they haven't already eaten the seed, unless you put them somewhere else while it grows -- and then they will strip it down to the ground in no time. Hay on top of wet dirty tiles will not work well, either; it will give them something dry to walk on til it gets wet again. The concrete tiles are not necessarily a problem; people love concrete floors for their coops. You need to find a way to clean the mess out and to keep it relatively clean for them. As long as they are confined to a small space, sand over the cement tiles may be a good choice, if not your best option. It would need to be at least a few inches thick, so there would need to be something around the edge to hold it in, something like 2" x 6" boards on end.

I've never had chickens in a run, only free range or in a large yard with lots of plants growing, so I'm just talking from what I read on here. Perhaps someone will come along with some more ideas.

 

[ChickenPeep]

Quote:
but if you put sand over it, wont they just poop on it again?

 

[Coffeemama7]

You need to solve the food issue, attach the feeders to the side of the pen, or hang or build the feeders up off the ground.
This is your biggest, most expensive problem.
Make sure they are covered and protected from the rain.

Next, add a thick layer of shavings, diatamaceous earth and sand. This will cover the concrete. As they poop, they will mix it up, scratch and keep it cleaner.
The sand will help with drainage, the earth helps with pests, and the shavings absorb the feces and urine.

Do put a tarp or roof up. The rain muddies up the pen REALLY fast!
If you decide not to tarp/roof, you can use old metal garbage can lids as the roof for your feeders.
Hope this helps

We have this issue, too! We house our bantam chickens in an open stock horse trailer with a netted/fenced outside grass run. They get out on grass during the day.
They get really smelly when it (the floor of the trailer) gets soaking wet from rain. We scoop, hose, re- layer with bedding mixture above.

We house our ducks in an old dog run. We have brick on half. We use a bale of hay in the open areas for the ducks. They ate all the grass down to mud!
We use an old DogLoo for their hut, and we have a toddler pool at the end.

They get it pretty messy, so we hose it down, add fresh hay, and wait till they eat or mat it down, then start over.
If it get really smelly, we pitchfork it all out, sprinkle some limestone on the ground, then bed with LOTS of hay.