Coop interior floor material?

MonkeyChicken

Chirping
8 Years
Apr 16, 2013
3
0
65
Hi all,

I'm looking at various coop designs (thinking the Purina plan) and maintenance and such and what is a good floor material that's easy to clean yet also not hard on the birds? I have access to galvanized sheet metal that I can put down over a plywood floor, but fear that it may fall into the latter category. I'd like to use some sort of sealed material to keep odors down and be rot resistant.

MC
 
All of my large coops have a plywood foor and I use a dry deep litter of pine shavings.
Very low maintenance and no odor as long as coop stays dry.
My smaller coops are on the ground, so they have a dirt floor.
 
I did a lot of research on this very topic before we got our first chickens. The conclusion I came to, and it did not disappoint, was sand. There is not any better bedding out there. It is cheap, never needs to be replaced (just topped off now and then), and is very easy to keep clean. It is an inhabitable environment for fleas, ticks, and mites unlike like hay, straw and pine shavings. It does not harbor parasites as can happen with pine shavings, or hay. It keeps the chickens feet poop free and they or their area NEVER smells. It keeps your shoes clean as well. I also have it in my run, and it drains great and keeps my shoes clean. I did a super informative blog post on the benefits of using sand and what type of sand to use. Click here to enter "chicken keeping heaven"!! It takes me less than one minute per day to completely clean ALL of the poop out of my chicken coop. Can you imagine how wonderful that is for the chickens? Never to have to live in smelly, poopy conditions? I''m going into my 3rd year using this method so it has been truly tested and totally approved!! I even made a handy dandy chicken poop scoop which easily sifts the poop out! See? So click on one of the above links or the photo, to learn the heavenly benefits of sand. There is NOTHING better!! I also laid a piece of scrap linoleum on the floor of my coop as a barrier between the sand and the wood. Has been perfect.



Kelly
✿​
Our Country Chronicles
✿​
 
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We have linoleum flooring with straw on it right now. We have a poop board under the roost with linoleum and sand. I love the sand and think we will use it for the floor too.
 
I stapled thick black plastic to the floor and use hay...so far I have no issues or complaints...I would love to use sand, but my coop is 18x20ft and it's the top floor of a building that was here when we bought the property, so I worry about all the extra weight that sand would add.
 
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Where did you find a rake like that?
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I will discuss the sand idea with "mother hen". A sheet of galvanized metal with upturned edges sounds like it would work well to contain the sand, although the roll on Rhino liner sounds like a good idea as well.
 
We have linoleum flooring with straw on it right now. We have a poop board under the roost with linoleum and sand. I love the sand and think we will use it for the floor too.
Oh yes! Pull that straw out and enter total sand heaven! It's not smelly, messy, or moist like straw. When the poop his the sand as you know from your poop board, it dries right up. You'll love transforming the floor of your coop to sand! It smells GREAT!
 
Where did you find a rake like that?
D.gif


I will discuss the sand idea with "mother hen". A sheet of galvanized metal with upturned edges sounds like it would work well to contain the sand, although the roll on Rhino liner sounds like a good idea as well.
I got the stall rake at Tractor Supply Co. I zip tied 1/4 inch hardware cloth to it. Easy peasy! It makes sifting out the poop a snap.
smile.png
 

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