Concreting chicken pen?

[muscovy94]

Hey yall i'm planning on building a new chicken pen and was wondering if laying down concrete in it would be a good idea?

 

[patandchickens]

A concrete slab is pretty expensive, is one consideration.

For the coop, it is excellent -- basically digging-predator-proof, and mudproof, and easy to clean and disinfect. (Obviously you need to use sufficient bedding on top of the concrete). I have a slab-floored coop and LOVE it. There are a few situation-specific and temporary disadvantages but really on the whole, Yay Concrete for the coop

For a run, though, I wouldn't do it if you have any other choice. It's hard on their feet and joints, any bedding/footing you put on it will tend to wash off in heavy rains, and they can't scratch around or dig dusting holes. I have raised CornishX with a concrete run to their pen (with about 3-5" of chipped wood bedding on it) but only b/c that's what was available -- I wouldn't do it on *purpose* and I certainly wouldnt' do it for regular chickens if I had ANY alternative. (If you are forced to put your run on slab, you can put retainer boards and 6++" of sand/gravel in there, as being better than nothing)

JME, good luck,

Pat

 

[muscovy94]

Quote:
well I plan on concreting the whole thing. run and all, but I let all my chickens free range during the day and just put them up at night so would it still be ok to concrete the whole thing?

 

[SoJoChickens]

Especially if they free range most of the day, the concrete coop and run should be fine.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

If they aren't on it all day, it wouldn't be so bad. Can you give them a kiddie pool of sand in there? It would give them an area to get off the concrete that would be softer for them. It would also give them a place to dust bathe and dig around.

Even when you plan on free ranging, they still end up spending time in the run. Sometimes more than you originally planned on.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
Oh, that sounds like a good arrangement then

Have fun,

Pat