Commercial Poultry Flooring

[eilis83]

Hi there,

We have 6 female ducks (2 Cayuga, 2 Welsh Harlequin, and 2 Khaki Campbell's) arriving in a few weeks and I am stumped on flooring. So far, the most appealing avenue is the raised floor commercial poultry flooring that you can buy in 24x48 sheets with a "tray" of shavings underneath to catch their poop. I thought it'd provide better ventilation and keep the house somewhat cleaner. Our winters here are mild-the occasional 20 degree night or two and days usually averaging in the 40's. Has anyone tried the poultry flooring before or heard of someone that has?

 

[eilis83]

Bump

 

[TLWR]

poultry flooring that allows droppings through - like hardware cloth?
Raised wire flooring is hard on a ducks feet.

 

[eilis83]

No, its not hardware cloth. It's plastic, here is an example---http://www.qcsupply.com/93334-dura-slat-24-48.html?utm_source=googlebase&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=productfeeds&gclid=Cj0KEQjwx96-BRDyzY3GqcqZgcgBEiQANHd-nlEF6yk0UvD2-z4YNhftUZlFKMLfUR_OY0RIF3JZg3caArQJ8P8HAQ

 

[eilis83]

I thought it looked like a cleaner friendlier alternative than the usual. But I do not know how easy it would be to muck out...

 

[lomine]

I'm imaging you having to pull them out and power washing or scrubbing to get all the poo off. Duck poo is runnier and I bet most of it wouldn't fall nicely through the holes. I stick with just pine shavings in the coop. I'll scoop out some of the soiled bit periodically and when it gets messy I rake it out into the run where I have deep litter. Works well so far. But if you get this poultry flooring be sure to let us know how it works. I'd be interested to know.

 

[eilis83]

Iomine,
I was worried about the same thing. Wondering if I'd just be making extra work for myself... If I do try it I will definitely post pics back here to let everyone know.

 

[Amiga]

Not tried poultry flooring. We do really well with either vinyl sheet flooring (that goes up the walls several inches and is fastened with furring strips to keep poop out from underneath) or Manning flooring (long story).

I use pine shavings on top. The ventilation is handled with openings up high that predators cannot reach or reach through.