coop floor - what do you absolutely *need*? different in winter?

[fireguy56]

Schmamy, Welcome to BYC and all I can say after reading your posts is "good luck to you and your friend, ya gonna need it"! In my opinion I see nothing but problems for you two, and possibly your chickens. Coop smelly and full of poop, not good for chickens. Can't seem to decide on proper way to handle poop(DLM, poop boards, regular maintenence, etc) Neither of you sound to be into the chickens, just the eggs. That bothers me! Money issues? Chickens like any other animals cost $ to keep. Even on the lowest level of care. Communication problem as far as doing your research together and deciding what would be best way to achieve a clean, safe enviroment for the chickens. I just see a disaster in the making. Sorry to be so glum, but call it as I see it based on what you have told us. However I hope you both can turn it around and start enjoying the girls and give them a great place to thrive, be happy and lay great tasting "FREE" eggs. Good luck
Erik

 

[Yay Chicks!]

I can think of a few reasons why a concrete floor without anything on it might be a problem. First, the poop just sits there. There is nothing to absorb the moisture. Next, a concrete floor is harsh for a chicken's feet when they jump down from the roost, I would imagine.

I could not find where you mentioned how many chickens you have and in how large a space, but if you just have a few backyard chickens, there is no reason for you to go through a bale of shavings every three weeks. (I am assuming the coop is dry.) The shavings will absorb the moisture. The chickens will keep it stirred up a bit or you or your friend can turn it over. Sprinkling it with DE (a big bag last FOREVER) also helps the drying process. A nice thick layer of shavings will keep the floor somewhat more insulated as well and will be easier on their feet.

The roosts can be scrapped off with a trowel or putty knife.

Feeders can be hung to keep them off the floor. Waterers can be put on bricks. I keep both of these in my run and not in the coop. They are not going to be eating and drinking while they are sleeping and I let them out into the run shortly after dawn anyway.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

 

[BrokenRoadFarm]

We are using DLM for our coop...every afternoon when I go to collect eggs, I bring a plastic bag (from grocery store) full of shavings and cover the "overnight" poop (which we all know is HUGE).

My chickens don't stay in the coop all day - they have a 12 ft. X 20 ft. run. I did my first clean out after 4 months of having them (couldn't bring myself to go 6 months like a lot people do). Scooped everything out and put in fresh. I often wonder why people don't want to pay for the pine shavings - are they expensive where they are? I only pay $5 where we are...seems cheap to me and lasts about a month. For the run, in the summer I bag grass clippings - this time of year I bag the sprigs of grass that are still growing and the leaves that have fallen. Just dump in the run and the girls take care of spreading them around. Then I rake it all up and put in the compost pile and throw some more bagfuls in....doesn't seem very complicated or expensive...maybe our setup just works for us.

Also, we keep a feeder in the coop (I am paranoid about leaving food in the run overnight - seems to me it just invites critters to try and break in) but the water is in the run - they spill it and make a mess in the coop. I am up before them every morning so they never get thirsty.

Good luck on making it work for you and your friend!

 

[Patricia Jane]

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5. There are no stupid questions. Won't learn if you don't ask.chickens are one of the easiest and forgiving animals. All they require is a clean well maintained secure coop from predators, good feed, fresh water, good healthy scraps and alittle attention and they are good to go. They are very social birds. Good luck. I hope this helps

 

[Yay Chicks!]

Oh yes, I forgot to mention that although I hang the feed in the run, I unhook it and put it in a secure container at night. (Thanks BrokenRoadFarm for your comment that made me realize that I left that part out

)

 

[goobhen]

We use the deep litter method, pine shavings. It works well for us. We have a wooden floor, the only time the shavings get wet is when my 15 chickens play out in the rain or snow. We had to put up a "porch" for the poop door to keep out the rain and snow. We clean out the coop really good twice a year. It takes about 3 bags of shavings, through out the winter we add litter as needed. I shovel the poop from under their roosts about once a week. We do use DE, it doesn't take a lot of it. My coop doesn't stink! Please make sure your coop has good ventilation, that is one of the most important things that you do. Chickens don't need heated coops, but they do need good ventilation, it helps cut down the moisture in the coop, better for their lungs (and yours) helps keep their combs from getting frostbite! Good luck and enjoy your eggs! Chickens are a hoot to watch! You will learn as you go...........

 

[The Yakima Kid]

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I told her at the beginning about the DLM, but for whatever reason she decided against it. I let her make that call since she was the one doing all the work. The coop floor is just concrete, I believe--or maybe dirt?--I can't remember. I don't know how they are cleaning the coop at this point...we talked about poop boards at one point but never made or installed any...

Do you *have* to have bedding of some kind? How much--how deep to start off? And how often does it have to be replaced (or added to if you do the DLM)? I'm assuming yes, but I need a concrete and clear answer for my friend as to *why*. Sorry if that's a stupid question...we're noobs and I just need to be able to tell her, authoritatively, "yes, here's what we need and why" rather than "um, I think I read something about how you should do this."

In the winter I put down about 6" of pine shavings. The girls will keep it turned over, and when it begins to smell, I add another inch. This is known as "deep litter" and it will ferment (compost) in place. I use spare boot trays under the roosts as poop boards and fill them with shavings as well. Every two weeks I use a kitty litter scoop to remove the poop from the boot trays and I add more shavings if needed. Done properly there is no smell, no muss, no fuss. You can continue this for years; if it gets too deep, just take a few inches off the top, stir it up, and add fresh litter. I cheat and clean it all out and restart during the hot weather with cool, clean, litter. Since it is composting in place, the volume shrinks, and heat is generated in winter. The purpose is NOT to have compost, but to keep chores, odors, parasites, etc. to a minimum.

 

[ladyride]

DLM we just cleaned the coop for winter put down new wood pellets which is what we have used since april. I usually scoop the worst of the poo in the morning do a good rake done. takes 5 minutes, to add a little extra warmth you could try to do just the shavings it works great for alot of people.We could have proably left the past litter in for a couple more months just didn't want to have to fool with it in the middle of winter. So we went ahead & did it when we had the best chance without freezing our keisters off.We are using a osb floor covered with lineloum.

 

[wac]

I'm new to this so take it with a grain of salt. I started out with shavings and after about 3 months I decided to try sand. I had read on byc about it and it was very cheap at local gravel pit. So I clean out shavings and put in about 2" of sand in coop and run. I really like it so far its easy to rake up poo each morning in just a few minutes. It's been in about 3 months now and still there is very little odor. I'm not sure if it will be good for winter use or not.

 

[TheWaddler]

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