Coop flooring and bedding material.

[HappyGals]

I'm working on the coop now. I was thinking of putting vinyl flooring down to protect the wood and then use sand for the bedding material. My concern is the winter (I'm in New England). Not as cold as some areas but it for sure can get chilly here. Can I put pine shavings over the sand in the winter to provide a warmer bedding material?

Would I need to remove the sand in the winter or can I put shavings over it?

Is vinyl (linoleum) flooring a good idea for the bottom? I've read some people say it can make the chickens sick if they peck at it but if its completely covered by bedding they shouldn't have access.

 

[DobieLover]

I wouldn't use sand personally. It is heavy and dusty and will slowly sand down your vinyl layer. I would just stick with wood shavings. Have you considered using poop boards? Then you could put Sweet PDZ on them and scoop the vast majority of poop out each morning.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Is vinyl (linoleum) flooring a good idea for the bottom? I've read some people say it can make the chickens sick if they peck at it but if its completely covered by bedding they shouldn't have access.

No matter what you propose to do on practically any subject on here someone will tell you that there is something wrong with it, either potentially or definitely. They can always find something that might go wrong. To me, if your vinyl floor is waterproof and will keep the wood under it dry it will work to greatly extend the life of your coop floor. A lot of people use vinyl over wood without issues.

Can I put pine shavings over the sand in the winter to provide a warmer bedding material?

Some people use sand and hate it. Some people use sand and love it. Even if I knew a lot about your coop, your flock, your climate, and your management techniques I would not be able to tell which camp you will fall in. If you try sand and do not like it, I don't know how hard it would be for you to remove it and replace it with something else.

In winter and in summer my chickens sleep on the roosts. I don't consider a warm bedding material to be a high priority. It is generally colder at night than during the day. Why is a warm bedding material important to mature chickens?

Whether winter or summer, my concern with bedding material is that it stays dry. If it gets wet and stays wet it can become unhealthy and stink. Wet could come from your waterer, the environment such as rain or snow, or the poop building up so thick it can't dry out. That's my concern with bedding. I hardly ever change mine out, I don't need to. But if you do change it out often, how easy will that be?

My coop floor is dirt with wood shavings. It stays dry. I use droppings boards to keep the poop from building up very thick. I have weather they can stay outside all day so they are not pooping in the coop during the day and the droppings boards catch about everything at night. I should clean the coop out every fall to put that stuff on the garden so it can decompose over the winter in time for spring planting but I'm lazy. I generally clean it out every two or three years, not because I have to but because I want that stuff on my garden. Some people do deep cleaning weekly or monthly. That means change out the bedding.

I have no idea how often you will be changing out the bedding. Trial and error is probably the best method to determine that. If it starts to smell you need to change it. If you change it regularly sand is probably not the best material to use.

I have no idea what the best bedding material will be for you but I want something easy to work with, relatively inexpensive, and readily available.

Good luck and welcome to the forum!

 

[rosemarythyme]

Without seeing what the build currently looks like or a scale plan, it's hard to know for sure if your plan will work.

My guess is moisture could seep under the plexi and start rotting out the wood.

Also pull out floors rarely work as intended. They are far heavier and more unwieldy than people think they'll be, plus the act of pulling them out tends to squeegee the poops right off the surface, so you end up with extra clean up.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

Exactly.

I’d either use poop trays under the roosts, or if you want to cover the entire floor, one or more of these: dog cage replacement tray

They come in a nearly infinite range of sizes.

 

[Ajp23]

I’m in the “tried sand and didn’t like it” camp, although I know many people love it. For us, even with good ventilation and frequent poop scooping, the sand was stinky and dusty compared to pine shavings. We’re in North Texas so it could be climate related. We switched back to shavings and have had a much easier (and stink-free) time.

I can’t speak to the linoleum really, I think the humidity here might cause a problem with that. We have a wood floor and keep a thick layer of shavings with pdz pellets. The floor is never wet.

Best of luck with whatever you try and remember, sometimes chickens are trial and error. Don’t be afraid to try something new as long you’re willing to switch things up if it’s not working for you!

 

[DSA]

First note: my birds free-range so they don't spend all day in the coop. That makes a difference.

I use super thick linoleum for my floors. And then once a month I come in with a 8" drywall knife and a 5gal bucket to collect poop for the compost pile.

In the winter I use pine shavings to keep them warmer, and in the spring that all gets collected and added to compost.

 

[dearmeghann]

With our new coop, we used a roll of vinyl flooring. We have a droppings board, and have put Sweet PDZ on both the board and the floor.

The Sweet PDZ seems lighter than sand, and it was easier for us to buy. It's not as cheap as getting sand from a quarry, but it was definitely cheaper than buying the sand from Lowe's. We love the PDZ. Our girls do too! We scoop every morning, and it's a breeze. We have pine pellets in our run, and we rake it every night. "Scoop the coop, rake the run."

We had sand in our other coop, but that one didn't have a floor. We put straw on top during the winter, but being in NC, the cold isn't really an issue for us.

 

[dirtyFlocker]

I think sand is great unless it gets wet, but it will freeze hard in sub zero temperatures so that’s regional dependent. I use aspen shavings and they work great- stink free. Nesting boxes have hemp Hurd which is pricey but very easy to clean- think cat litter scoop

 

[Littlebitshadow]

I live in NY. I plan on doing peel and stick tile on the floor and I will be using hemp bedding and pine shavings in mine. I’m also debating putting a small horse stall mat in mine so it can get covered with poop then I can take it out and easily spray it down. I’ll also be using PDZ. In the run, I’m going to let them pick the grass then put down sand. I plan on covering the roof of my coop anyways. In the winter I’ll wrap it with plastic or something.