coop floor

[noodles]

ok, my chickens have a hard wood floor.. I was curious if i HAVE to put hay or whatever in there or can i just leave it naked and let them poo everywhere.. I know i would have to clean it more often, but i want the poo and not the hay.. and i can't invent a hay-poop separator

 

[2dream]

Why do you just want the poo?

I use pine shavings (NO CEDAR). When I clean all goes to the chicken poo compost pile to cure for 30 days before going to the garden. Both the poo and shavings make great compost, along with crushed egg shells, (the chickens get some of those), coffee grounds and all other organic kitchen scraps. At least all other organic scraps that the chickens did not get.

I clean my chicken coops about every 2 to 3 months.

 

[Mahonri]

I clean my coop once a week and put the poop right into a different section of the garden each time. (I bury it shallow)

I love my linoleum floor... it makes for QUICK work.

 

[Chirpy]

I strongly advise you to cover the wood with linoleum if you are able to. No matter what you do after that it will be far easier to keep clean.

I think it would be hard on the chickens to always be on just a hard floor, especially when they jump down from their roost. Plus, they really like to scratch around in the bedding. Having bedding will also help keep the smell down, rather than just having poop everywhere on the plain floor.

I love using pine shavings for bedding also. I use the DLM (deep litter method) and only cleaned my coop once last year. It was great, I had no smell whatsoever and it was fast and easy to clean when that day came. Of course, I live in a dry climate so that makes a difference, at least I would think.

If you are trying to collect just their poop, then I would suggest you make a dropping pit right under their roost so that the poop falls in there at night. The rest of the floor can be covered with bedding for the chickens comfort. Most of their poo is from overnight.

 

[chickflick]

Why would you want that mess?? Yuck!! The smell, the flies the poop on your shoes!!!! Use pine shavings, it dries up the runny poop and is great for the gardens. It would be really hard to clean a plain wood floor...lots more work for you. You would have to seal the wood with some thing or the floor would get ruined very quickly.

 

[cajunlizz]

Quote:
Coffee grinds ? You spread the coffee grind in coop over the pine shavings or OUTSIDE in the run area . SO FAR , they still have grass in run area . DO I have to put shavings down in run area also ? WOW , I had no idea

 

[Chirpy]

The coffee grinds go into the compost pile with the crushed eggs and anything else that you are composting. Only the pine shavings go into the coop for bedding.

You don't have to put anything down in your run area unless you want to.

Some people put sand to keep water from collecting and to give their chickens something to bath in. Some people lay down leaves to give their chickens something to scratch around it.

I just have a plain ole dirt run that my girls scratch around in and dig holes for dirt baths in.

 

[geareduplyn]

I have used nothing but wood pellets for the past 25 years on my floors, and let them build up to a deep litter system. If kept dry, the bedding will last indefinitely. I started out using wood stove pellets, but have switched to the Equine Pine pellets sold at the Tractor Store.

 

[cajunlizz]

Quote:
You mean shavings ? You say pellets , and I think you are referring to laying pellets .... LOL

I am using pine shavings on coop floor and ADD as needed .

 

[2dream]

Quote:
Coffee grinds ? You spread the coffee grind in coop over the pine shavings or OUTSIDE in the run area . SO FAR , they still have grass in run area . DO I have to put shavings down in run area also ? WOW , I had no idea

Sorry that did sound funny. All that stuff goes in the compost pile and then to the garden after 30 days.

And no, shavings go into the coop and not the run. At least I don't put any in the run.
Also, if like me you can not afford to put vinyl down I saw a great idea on another BYC thread. Use a tarp. I think they used cup hooks to hold it in place against the walls. Then when you clean just fold the tarp up, wash it off, let it dry and put it back down. When I clean my new coop with the wood floor I am going to try that.