even my small coop/runs have withstood over 2 feet of snow for weeks and weeks, and they are like 12 years old. Its not like you have to over engineer this stuff.
Could use guidance from experts
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You will need a waterer and a feeder. The former should probably be storeboughten, unless you will use the "here's your bucket, chickens!" method of offering water
A feeder can easily be made yourself, if you wish. Or of course you can buy one if you'd rather stimulate the economy.
Where to put the roost depends somewhat on your climate (where do you live?) but in general it does not matter hugely. Having it at the opposite end of the coop from wintertime-use vent openings is a good idea in real cold-winter climates. Don't put it right over the feeder or waterer unless you have a wiiiiiide droppings board beneath the roost. Otherwise, <whatever>. Not everything matters a whole lot
You will need a waterer and a feeder. The former should probably be storeboughten, unless you will use the "here's your bucket, chickens!" method of offering water
Where to put the roost depends somewhat on your climate (where do you live?) but in general it does not matter hugely. Having it at the opposite end of the coop from wintertime-use vent openings is a good idea in real cold-winter climates. Don't put it right over the feeder or waterer unless you have a wiiiiiide droppings board beneath the roost. Otherwise, <whatever>. Not everything matters a whole lot
especially a cage for a sick/injured chicken. I remember reading that was important in threads here.
You can rig a way of hanging that off the upper walls; or, arguably better in many circumstances, just put it in your garage or somewhere else like that.
You can rig a way of hanging that off the upper walls; or, arguably better in many circumstances, just put it in your garage or somewhere else like that.
The coop is going to be to the east of my very small fruit tree orchard and since it's my intent to give the chickens access to the entire orchard by fencing it in, I think a small chicken door on the west side of the coop would be a good idea.
May I suggest you put the chicken door on the S or even E side instead. The chickens can perfectly well walk a couple yards *around* the coop to get to the orchard
The reason I say this is that most places in the US (well, I'm assuming your location, there
) have prevailing winds (especially in nasty weather) from basically West-ish. You do not want winter winds whipping thru your coop all the time thru an open W-facing popdoor. If your bad-weather winds come from a different direction you can obviously modify this advice to suit; indeed it is often quite reasonable to have popdoors on two *different* walls, which one you use depending on what the day's weather is like. This depends on where your run is located, obviusly.
May I suggest you put the chicken door on the S or even E side instead. The chickens can perfectly well walk a couple yards *around* the coop to get to the orchard
I also need help picking a floor covering so they're not on bare plywood. A floor covering would be easier to clean for me anyway.
For sure you need bedding for the chickens. I woudl suggest baled shavings from the feedstore, unless you live somewhere they're not available in which case there are any number of other options such as straw.
Paint the plywood floor, tho. Otherwise it will be awful hard to clean -- SOME poo will escape thru the bedding and go down and stick to the floor
Good luck, have fun,
Pat
For sure you need bedding for the chickens. I woudl suggest baled shavings from the feedstore, unless you live somewhere they're not available in which case there are any number of other options such as straw.
Paint the plywood floor, tho. Otherwise it will be awful hard to clean -- SOME poo will escape thru the bedding and go down and stick to the floor
Good luck, have fun,
Pat
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HappyChickenLover> Love your photos too and I really like how you attached the wheels to the back of your tractor so it'd be more flush with the ground so you wouldn't end up with "escapees".
"Its not like you have to over engineer this stuff." I totally agree with you.... problem is there's this woman who's the President of our HO Association who kick starts her broomstick and flies around the neighborhood looking for violations. I think... I could be wrong... she gets off on sticking a pink stickem to the front doors of homes in "violation". She's why we had to get our new "garden shed" approved. The old hand me down coop was about 4' by 6' with jut outs for the nest boxes so I could get to them to the eggs from the outside. We were going to replace the roof but.... there was too much moss growing on it. We think it was about 60 or 70 years old but who knows. We really thought it would make it through the winter at least but.... it didn't. My husband did cut a 2x4 and a piece of plywood to about 18"x18" to sorta hold it up from the inside but it collapsed on the west side and took the little support down with it. It sort of imploded when we got hit with that last 21" of snow and then it started drifting over. Good thing was I only had 3 birds in there because when we dug them out.... they were together in the corner underneath that little 18"x18" piece of wood that had been propping up the roof. Stupid is as stupid does I guess because we really figured it had been standing for so long it'd make it another coupla years..... it didn't.
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patandchickens> I sorta bought store bought feeders and waterers.... I've got an assortment of different sizes and types stashed. I watched freecycle and Craigslist and went to a farm auction and picked all mine up for like $5 each. They seem to be stainless or maybe galvanized steel... I dunno. I scrubbed em real good then soaked them in a 10% bleach solution for about a half hour or so. They're all used but they cleaned up real good.
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The new coop is tall enough I can hang the feeders at chicken shoulder height so they don't crap in their food and water. That'll be nice. I guess maybe I'll figure out where exactly to put the feeder and waterer once I get the roosts and the 3 nest boxes figured out.
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I really liked your idea of rigging a way to hang an isolation cage off an upper wall. Really good point about a droppings board for underneath it and I think I saw one of those in henney penny's photos attached to ladders. I caught that and wrote down some notes so excellent idea!!!
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I don't know that I'll deal with sick chickens more than moving them to my garage.... I just don't know enough about chickens to do much other than get them away from the others before starting a new thread asking for help. Now a chicken that's getting pecked that needs a break.... ya, I'd isolate one of those for a while in the coop. Truthfully... the only chicken I'd take to a vet would be the Australorp. The others will either be egg layers or for the pot.
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"The chickens can perfectly well walk a couple yards *around* the coop to get to the orchard smile The reason I say this is that most places in the US (well, I'm assuming your location, there tongue) have prevailing winds (especially in nasty weather) from basically West-ish." You're 100% on the money with prevailing winds coming from the west for me. I've got some problems though. The little orchard is approved for fencing to keep deer out which.... coincidentally.... just so happens to deter coyotes that would eat my chickens. The "approved" site for my "garden shed" is directly to the right of the "deer" fencing. She did not approve it to the left where I wanted it because it was visible from the street in that location where I could have had the chicken door on the east side of the coop. Can you think of anything I could do..... to stop those winter winds from whipping through the coop>>>>? A double door maybe... I'm at a loss on this one.
"Its not like you have to over engineer this stuff." I totally agree with you.... problem is there's this woman who's the President of our HO Association who kick starts her broomstick and flies around the neighborhood looking for violations. I think... I could be wrong... she gets off on sticking a pink stickem to the front doors of homes in "violation". She's why we had to get our new "garden shed" approved. The old hand me down coop was about 4' by 6' with jut outs for the nest boxes so I could get to them to the eggs from the outside. We were going to replace the roof but.... there was too much moss growing on it. We think it was about 60 or 70 years old but who knows. We really thought it would make it through the winter at least but.... it didn't. My husband did cut a 2x4 and a piece of plywood to about 18"x18" to sorta hold it up from the inside but it collapsed on the west side and took the little support down with it. It sort of imploded when we got hit with that last 21" of snow and then it started drifting over. Good thing was I only had 3 birds in there because when we dug them out.... they were together in the corner underneath that little 18"x18" piece of wood that had been propping up the roof. Stupid is as stupid does I guess because we really figured it had been standing for so long it'd make it another coupla years..... it didn't.
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patandchickens> I sorta bought store bought feeders and waterers.... I've got an assortment of different sizes and types stashed. I watched freecycle and Craigslist and went to a farm auction and picked all mine up for like $5 each. They seem to be stainless or maybe galvanized steel... I dunno. I scrubbed em real good then soaked them in a 10% bleach solution for about a half hour or so. They're all used but they cleaned up real good.
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The new coop is tall enough I can hang the feeders at chicken shoulder height so they don't crap in their food and water. That'll be nice. I guess maybe I'll figure out where exactly to put the feeder and waterer once I get the roosts and the 3 nest boxes figured out.
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I really liked your idea of rigging a way to hang an isolation cage off an upper wall. Really good point about a droppings board for underneath it and I think I saw one of those in henney penny's photos attached to ladders. I caught that and wrote down some notes so excellent idea!!!
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I don't know that I'll deal with sick chickens more than moving them to my garage.... I just don't know enough about chickens to do much other than get them away from the others before starting a new thread asking for help. Now a chicken that's getting pecked that needs a break.... ya, I'd isolate one of those for a while in the coop. Truthfully... the only chicken I'd take to a vet would be the Australorp. The others will either be egg layers or for the pot.
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"The chickens can perfectly well walk a couple yards *around* the coop to get to the orchard smile The reason I say this is that most places in the US (well, I'm assuming your location, there tongue) have prevailing winds (especially in nasty weather) from basically West-ish." You're 100% on the money with prevailing winds coming from the west for me. I've got some problems though. The little orchard is approved for fencing to keep deer out which.... coincidentally.... just so happens to deter coyotes that would eat my chickens. The "approved" site for my "garden shed" is directly to the right of the "deer" fencing. She did not approve it to the left where I wanted it because it was visible from the street in that location where I could have had the chicken door on the east side of the coop. Can you think of anything I could do..... to stop those winter winds from whipping through the coop>>>>? A double door maybe... I'm at a loss on this one.
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Ah, the joy of zoning bylaws and stick-up-their-butt municipal officials
Yes, I can suggest two possible solutions, either of which should work pretty well (the first would work a bit better but I do not know whether your happy fun zoning gal will okay it)
First and best solution: put popdoor on S side of coop right near the W end (i.e. in lower left-hand corner of S wall of coop, as seen when facing coop from outside) and make a wee little box-shaped 'foyer' to get chickens from popdoor to deer fence entry.
Alternative solution: if you MUST have the popdoor truly on the W side of building, use some stacked-and-pegged-together-with-rebar straw bales (or whatever else works) to create a windbreak around the popdoor. Your best bet is *usually*, and I think in this case it would certainly be, to make the windbreak L-shaped and right up against the coop, so that the chickens coming out the popdoor have to deke south around it. Hm, I'm not sure I explained that well, I just ate too much lunch and could use a nap, sorry
Good luck, have fun,
Pat
Ah, the joy of zoning bylaws and stick-up-their-butt municipal officials
Yes, I can suggest two possible solutions, either of which should work pretty well (the first would work a bit better but I do not know whether your happy fun zoning gal will okay it)
First and best solution: put popdoor on S side of coop right near the W end (i.e. in lower left-hand corner of S wall of coop, as seen when facing coop from outside) and make a wee little box-shaped 'foyer' to get chickens from popdoor to deer fence entry.
Alternative solution: if you MUST have the popdoor truly on the W side of building, use some stacked-and-pegged-together-with-rebar straw bales (or whatever else works) to create a windbreak around the popdoor. Your best bet is *usually*, and I think in this case it would certainly be, to make the windbreak L-shaped and right up against the coop, so that the chickens coming out the popdoor have to deke south around it. Hm, I'm not sure I explained that well, I just ate too much lunch and could use a nap, sorry
Good luck, have fun,
Pat
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The mention of straw bales got me thinking about something else since this coop is gonna be on skids. When I was a kid my parents always put straw bales around the foundation of our house before winter set in. They did it because we didn't have any insulation in our walls and our heat came from our wood burning kitchen stove and one pot bellied wood burner in our living room. Does anyone think it would help adding straw bales around the base of this "garden shed" or is that not necessary since it's going to have insulation in the walls and also in the ceiling?
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patandchickens> Hey!!! You wrote that article on ventilation that prompted me to register here!!! Way cool. For what it's worth.... I saved that to my desktop and used it when I was trying to figure out materials. That woman isn't a municipal officer and has absolutely positively no say so over any zoning laws..... she is a self-elected home owners association president because.... nobody wanted the job so she ran uncontested. Personally.... I think she's taken her position a little bit too serious. She bought herself a telescope so she can "watch over" all the properties. I kid you not.... she's got a telescope and she can see right into my back yard after the leaves drop in fall all the way until about June when the trees leaf out. She "pink slipped" me for putting up a clothes line.... it was "unattractive". I pretty much stay out of her way.... you can't reason with someone whose arrived at their position without reason. Anywhoo.... livestock isn't permitted where I live. It's permitted anywhere in the county if you have enough acreage.... which I do so no problems with the county or state but....livestock's not permitted in my subdivision. She's going to blow a gasket when she finds out "therapy" animals are specifically exempted and by gosh by golly.... my chickens are veteran therapy animals. There's a county nursing home that loves "visits" from anyone with animals of any type that their residents can handle so I volunteer there. Our hissing cockroach is always a big hit but since most folk bring in dogs.... chickens are a nice treat.... they're small and sit in laps well. The woman will definitely "pink slip" me once she spots the "girls" and that's when she'll find out "therapy" animals aren't livestock per se.... by definition they're therapy animals be they bug, bird, or beast. I'm sorta laughing about therapy animals being excluded because if she had realized that "garden shed" was going to be converted to a chicken coop.... it would have never been approved.
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I can for sure build an enclosed ramp that wraps around to the west. I never thought of it. No sense bothering with re-submitting anything either.... sometimes it's best to just go for it and ask for forgiveness later and I'm thinking this is one of those times. Thanks for thinking of it. I can move the chicken door to the front if I've got a way to get them into the fenced in area.
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patandchickens> Hey!!! You wrote that article on ventilation that prompted me to register here!!! Way cool. For what it's worth.... I saved that to my desktop and used it when I was trying to figure out materials. That woman isn't a municipal officer and has absolutely positively no say so over any zoning laws..... she is a self-elected home owners association president because.... nobody wanted the job so she ran uncontested. Personally.... I think she's taken her position a little bit too serious. She bought herself a telescope so she can "watch over" all the properties. I kid you not.... she's got a telescope and she can see right into my back yard after the leaves drop in fall all the way until about June when the trees leaf out. She "pink slipped" me for putting up a clothes line.... it was "unattractive". I pretty much stay out of her way.... you can't reason with someone whose arrived at their position without reason. Anywhoo.... livestock isn't permitted where I live. It's permitted anywhere in the county if you have enough acreage.... which I do so no problems with the county or state but....livestock's not permitted in my subdivision. She's going to blow a gasket when she finds out "therapy" animals are specifically exempted and by gosh by golly.... my chickens are veteran therapy animals. There's a county nursing home that loves "visits" from anyone with animals of any type that their residents can handle so I volunteer there. Our hissing cockroach is always a big hit but since most folk bring in dogs.... chickens are a nice treat.... they're small and sit in laps well. The woman will definitely "pink slip" me once she spots the "girls" and that's when she'll find out "therapy" animals aren't livestock per se.... by definition they're therapy animals be they bug, bird, or beast. I'm sorta laughing about therapy animals being excluded because if she had realized that "garden shed" was going to be converted to a chicken coop.... it would have never been approved.
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I can for sure build an enclosed ramp that wraps around to the west. I never thought of it. No sense bothering with re-submitting anything either.... sometimes it's best to just go for it and ask for forgiveness later and I'm thinking this is one of those times. Thanks for thinking of it. I can move the chicken door to the front if I've got a way to get them into the fenced in area.
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If you put strawbales around the base of a raised coop you are pretty likely to develop exciting rodent problems. I would not do it... even if they can't get into the *coop* you do not want to come to the attention of your HOA president because you've become "the rat lady" now do you
For floor insulation, seriously, your best bet is just a considerable depth of fluffy bedding. 12" of fluffyish shavings has a decent R value, plus the chickens can kind of snuggle down into it if they're feeling in a cold mood.
If you put strawbales around the base of a raised coop you are pretty likely to develop exciting rodent problems. I would not do it... even if they can't get into the *coop* you do not want to come to the attention of your HOA president because you've become "the rat lady" now do you
For floor insulation, seriously, your best bet is just a considerable depth of fluffy bedding. 12" of fluffyish shavings has a decent R value, plus the chickens can kind of snuggle down into it if they're feeling in a cold mood.
The woman will definitely "pink slip" me once she spots the "girls" and that's when she'll find out "therapy" animals aren't livestock per se.... by definition they're therapy animals be they bug, bird, or beast. I'm sorta laughing about therapy animals being excluded because if she had realized that "garden shed" was going to be converted to a chicken coop.... it would have never been approved.
Er, just two heads-ups... are you *really really sure* what your state's definition of "therapy animal" is; and you do know that you will start getting HOA citations for noise and smell and flies (no matter what the actual situation is), right?
Good luck, have fun,
Pat
Er, just two heads-ups... are you *really really sure* what your state's definition of "therapy animal" is; and you do know that you will start getting HOA citations for noise and smell and flies (no matter what the actual situation is), right?
Good luck, have fun,
Pat
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As an aside, this whole area is loaded with rats... it's horse country and rats always love a free hand out. Some of our neighbors use "barn cats".... we use ratzappers. I don't know if you have those up north in hardware stores but when we keep the batteries charged and bait them with scrambled eggs.... we don't have a problem with rats and as an added bonus.... we don't have to put up with cats breeding and spraying feed or crapping in our vegetable beds anymore. Buying re-chargeable batteries for a rat zapper is a lot cheaper than buying cat food and.... the ratzappers actually work round the clock.... for us and our friends that use them at least they do. When we 1st bought a ratzapper to give it a "test drive" we were killing them as fast as we could unload the zapper and re-charge the batteries. We bought a 2nd one. We were in shock at the number of rats that had been calling our property "home". I think we electrocuted about 100 the 1st month and then it slowed down to a trickle after that. We haven't caught a rat in any of our traps in months but.... I know they're out there so I'll buy another zapper to put under the new coop. I'm not a fan of rats be they Norway rats.... fluffy rats or.... hooved rats so I'm glad you mentioned it. I'll pass on the straw bales because I'm pretty sure you're 100% on the money again with what you said about the R value of deep shavings in the coop.
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The bylaws were written back when a lot of residential communities didn't want doberman pinchers or German shepherds. I guess everybody was supposed to buy labs. Whatever. These days communities don't want pitbulls no matter how gentle and good with people most are. Anyway, it was our bylaws that exempted therapy animals.... not the state or county laws. She can't go back in time and re-write the bylaws to cater to her personal bias although I'm sure she'll try when she realizes how broad the existing definition of "therapy" animal is. As the bylaws were written, therapy animal really does blanket any animal, regardless of species, that has been used for "therapeutic" purposes. I think the only thing the state dictates of any consequence is that insurance companies can't breed discriminate if an insured's animal is a "therapy" animal. Insurance companies were non-renewing policies of people discovered to own certain breeds of dogs and the state put an end to canceling policies willy nilly. The state doesn't really get involved with what animals residents own.... they pretty much leave animals up to zoning and public health departments. We're on more than 2 acres so we're ok with most livestock and we keep our cats inside so we're ok with the municipality's leash laws for cats and dogs. Will she try to come after me through a backdoor..... probably. Noise from hens..... good luck on that one when her only friend owns 3 pet peacocks and she owns 2 labs left out that bark their fool heads off from dawn to dusk. Flies..... they're everywhere because of the horse manure that's everywhere so she'd be hard pressed to say they're coming from our property when we don't have horses on site and pick up all our dog poops...unlike some dog owners. Not a good idea for those living in glass houses to start throwing stones but I'm sure you're right and she'll try. I don't think singling us out for retaliatory action because we have "therapy" animals is a good idea... it'd be viewed as harassment. I started volunteering in the community over 40 years ago with the pets and people programming. It's not like I did this to challenge her authority. I seriously think we'll be ok.... it's kinda obvious by the size of garden shed we're building that we're not interested in becoming poultry farmers and the bylaws are in our favor.
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We started building our coop this weekend and I'm so excited I can hardly contain myself. We didn't get far but.... we did get the blocks leveled and were able to "square" the foundation before the subflooring was nailed down. Next weekend we start framing. Here's 2 photos of the start of our "garden shed"-
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The bylaws were written back when a lot of residential communities didn't want doberman pinchers or German shepherds. I guess everybody was supposed to buy labs. Whatever. These days communities don't want pitbulls no matter how gentle and good with people most are. Anyway, it was our bylaws that exempted therapy animals.... not the state or county laws. She can't go back in time and re-write the bylaws to cater to her personal bias although I'm sure she'll try when she realizes how broad the existing definition of "therapy" animal is. As the bylaws were written, therapy animal really does blanket any animal, regardless of species, that has been used for "therapeutic" purposes. I think the only thing the state dictates of any consequence is that insurance companies can't breed discriminate if an insured's animal is a "therapy" animal. Insurance companies were non-renewing policies of people discovered to own certain breeds of dogs and the state put an end to canceling policies willy nilly. The state doesn't really get involved with what animals residents own.... they pretty much leave animals up to zoning and public health departments. We're on more than 2 acres so we're ok with most livestock and we keep our cats inside so we're ok with the municipality's leash laws for cats and dogs. Will she try to come after me through a backdoor..... probably. Noise from hens..... good luck on that one when her only friend owns 3 pet peacocks and she owns 2 labs left out that bark their fool heads off from dawn to dusk. Flies..... they're everywhere because of the horse manure that's everywhere so she'd be hard pressed to say they're coming from our property when we don't have horses on site and pick up all our dog poops...unlike some dog owners. Not a good idea for those living in glass houses to start throwing stones but I'm sure you're right and she'll try. I don't think singling us out for retaliatory action because we have "therapy" animals is a good idea... it'd be viewed as harassment. I started volunteering in the community over 40 years ago with the pets and people programming. It's not like I did this to challenge her authority. I seriously think we'll be ok.... it's kinda obvious by the size of garden shed we're building that we're not interested in becoming poultry farmers and the bylaws are in our favor.
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We started building our coop this weekend and I'm so excited I can hardly contain myself. We didn't get far but.... we did get the blocks leveled and were able to "square" the foundation before the subflooring was nailed down. Next weekend we start framing. Here's 2 photos of the start of our "garden shed"-
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Sorry but.... I obviously don't know how to add photos to show you all how far we got.
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This weekend we may be able to start framing.... depends on the weather and rain is in the forecast.
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Backing up a bit to the flooring. EggyErin suggested a scrap of sheet vinyl which.... I thought was a really great idea to protect the floorboards. I found an 8x12 scrap at Menards for $80 I could buy. My chicken coop isn't going to be heated and I live where winter temps can drop to -20° and sometimes as low as -30°. I was wondering if the vinyl would crack from such cold temps so I asked the young man at Menards..... he didn't know but asked his department manager. The department manager didn't know either. I held off buying the scrap until I could check out whether or not it was practical for an unheated chicken coop in the Upper Midwest. I mentioned this to someone who I'm pretty sure has forgotten more about chickens and building materials than I've ever known. He didn't say whether he thought vinyl would crack or not but.... he did think chickens might tear up the vinyl. He felt that with a vinyl flooring in a coop that as soon as the chickens got a "wound" or "tear" in the vinyl that they might use it as a "target until they really mess things up." He was quick to add that he has never used vinyl in a chicken coop before but thought I should consider a flooring that could be hosed out that the chickens couldn't scratch through. He knows I can't afford ceramic tile and suggested I look into a 1" layer of finish cement sloped to a drain. He felt that if the finish cement ever got chipped that it would be a fast and easy repair where if the vinyl ever needed a repair.... it would leave a seam that chickens might "target" and tear up again.
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Can anyone tell me if vinyl cracks if it's installed in an unheated structure built in a region that's a USDA zone 4?
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Is there any type of a "rubber" paint that I could apply to the floorboards to protect them?
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Has anyone ever used FPR panels like this, http://www.professionalplastics.com/FRPSHEET, on the floor of a chicken coop?
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This weekend we may be able to start framing.... depends on the weather and rain is in the forecast.
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Backing up a bit to the flooring. EggyErin suggested a scrap of sheet vinyl which.... I thought was a really great idea to protect the floorboards. I found an 8x12 scrap at Menards for $80 I could buy. My chicken coop isn't going to be heated and I live where winter temps can drop to -20° and sometimes as low as -30°. I was wondering if the vinyl would crack from such cold temps so I asked the young man at Menards..... he didn't know but asked his department manager. The department manager didn't know either. I held off buying the scrap until I could check out whether or not it was practical for an unheated chicken coop in the Upper Midwest. I mentioned this to someone who I'm pretty sure has forgotten more about chickens and building materials than I've ever known. He didn't say whether he thought vinyl would crack or not but.... he did think chickens might tear up the vinyl. He felt that with a vinyl flooring in a coop that as soon as the chickens got a "wound" or "tear" in the vinyl that they might use it as a "target until they really mess things up." He was quick to add that he has never used vinyl in a chicken coop before but thought I should consider a flooring that could be hosed out that the chickens couldn't scratch through. He knows I can't afford ceramic tile and suggested I look into a 1" layer of finish cement sloped to a drain. He felt that if the finish cement ever got chipped that it would be a fast and easy repair where if the vinyl ever needed a repair.... it would leave a seam that chickens might "target" and tear up again.
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Can anyone tell me if vinyl cracks if it's installed in an unheated structure built in a region that's a USDA zone 4?
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Is there any type of a "rubber" paint that I could apply to the floorboards to protect them?
--
Has anyone ever used FPR panels like this, http://www.professionalplastics.com/FRPSHEET, on the floor of a chicken coop?
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You need to post more (I forget what the number is, 20 or 40 posts maybe?) before the site lets you upload photos. So go over to some other threads and post "yay" or "good job dude" or actual useful replies LOL and then soon you can show us whatcha got
You need to post more (I forget what the number is, 20 or 40 posts maybe?) before the site lets you upload photos. So go over to some other threads and post "yay" or "good job dude" or actual useful replies LOL and then soon you can show us whatcha got
EggyErin suggested a scrap of sheet vinyl which.... I thought was a really great idea to protect the floorboards. I found an 8x12 scrap at Menards for $80 I could buy. My chicken coop isn't going to be heated and I live where winter temps can drop to -20° and sometimes as low as -30°. I was wondering if the vinyl would crack from such cold temps <snip> He felt that with a vinyl flooring in a coop that as soon as the chickens got a "wound" or "tear" in the vinyl that they might use it as a "target until they really mess things up."
Oodles and oodles of BYCers have vinyl flooring in their coops (me too, although I didn't put it there, it's from when the bldg was built as someone's boarding/breeding kennel). If you get decent quality it lasts real well. The chickens should seldom if ever have a CHANCE to mess with it b/c it will be covered with ample bedding, yes? It does get rather brittle in extreme cold BUT if you have it installed correctly (no bubbles or rolls) on a strong nonflexing floor that is not going to be a problem b/c it is not gonig to be MOVING.
So vinyl is just fine to use for flooring.
That said, I have pens with vinyl, pens with bare concrete, and pens with painted OSB/plywood... and honestly I do not see any *advantage* to the vinyl. If it were free I'd say sure but I bet you can find something more useful to spend $80 on
Just prime and paint well, and a plywood floor is FINE.
Oodles and oodles of BYCers have vinyl flooring in their coops (me too, although I didn't put it there, it's from when the bldg was built as someone's boarding/breeding kennel). If you get decent quality it lasts real well. The chickens should seldom if ever have a CHANCE to mess with it b/c it will be covered with ample bedding, yes? It does get rather brittle in extreme cold BUT if you have it installed correctly (no bubbles or rolls) on a strong nonflexing floor that is not going to be a problem b/c it is not gonig to be MOVING.
So vinyl is just fine to use for flooring.
That said, I have pens with vinyl, pens with bare concrete, and pens with painted OSB/plywood... and honestly I do not see any *advantage* to the vinyl. If it were free I'd say sure but I bet you can find something more useful to spend $80 on
Is there any type of a "rubber" paint that I could apply to the floorboards to protect them?
You don't need fancy. Just prepare the surface well (cleaned, dusted), apply a thin but thorough coat of exterior primer, then several thin coats of exterior paint, and you will be FINE
You don't need fancy. Just prepare the surface well (cleaned, dusted), apply a thin but thorough coat of exterior primer, then several thin coats of exterior paint, and you will be FINE
Has anyone ever used FPR panels like this, http://www.professionalplastics.com/FRPSHEET, on the floor of a chicken coop?
Again, you can find better more useful things to spend your money on... just use an adequate amount of bedding on a properly painted plywood floor
I would not use that product for a floor btw as it is not designed for floors and is fiberglass, which suggests to me it is likely to become VERY VERY brittle with age and may not deal well with even the tiniest flexure.
Don't overcomplicate things
-- the floor is just there for the bedding (litter) to be on. The bedding/litter is what actually catches the poo. Really really. And you don't need super duper waterproofness or anything like that, you are raising chickens not hippos
Good luck, have fun,
Pat
Again, you can find better more useful things to spend your money on... just use an adequate amount of bedding on a properly painted plywood floor
Don't overcomplicate things
Good luck, have fun,
Pat
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- Dec 31, 2010
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I think... not positive.... that I don't know how to load photos here anyway. I saved them on my desktop so maybe someday.
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The bedding/litter is what actually catches the poo. Really really. And you don't need super duper waterproofness or anything like that, you are raising chickens not hippos
My husband read what you said then pointed at the screen and started cracking up laughing then walked off. You're right you know. My dad bought me a scrap piece of vinyl after it was primed and painted so...we're going the prime and paint & vinyl route. I guess I'm good to go in the "protect the flooring" department!!! I do think I'm going to nail in a 10" piece of wood to the bottom of the door frame to keep the litter inside the coop.
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Last weekend we did get going on the frame up. We've got the walls done complete with the headers for the windows and the door so I'm pretty happy with where we're at so far. If it doesn't rain this weekend.... we're going for raising the walls and starting the roof.
My husband read what you said then pointed at the screen and started cracking up laughing then walked off. You're right you know. My dad bought me a scrap piece of vinyl after it was primed and painted so...we're going the prime and paint & vinyl route. I guess I'm good to go in the "protect the flooring" department!!! I do think I'm going to nail in a 10" piece of wood to the bottom of the door frame to keep the litter inside the coop.
--
Last weekend we did get going on the frame up. We've got the walls done complete with the headers for the windows and the door so I'm pretty happy with where we're at so far. If it doesn't rain this weekend.... we're going for raising the walls and starting the roof.
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