Designing interior of coop for easy maintenance

[rjackh]

I am getting a 4x8' cedar coop in a few weeks. It will have a 4x3' portion enclosed for roost and nest box, the rest is open run. I was planning on using peel n stick vinyl flooring inside this part to protect the wood and make cleaning easier. Do y'all suggest I paint the inside of the coop with kilz before installing the vinyl flooring to add some protection? The kilz might be overkill since it is all cedar. What about using tyvek house wrap instead or vinyl flooring? The tyvek could just be stapled down, then pulled up and changed out every now and then. I will have a poop board under the roost and plan to use construction sand for litter. Thanks.

 

[WNCcluck]

Our run is cedar with a vinyl floor. We've put 2x2 strips at the pop door and coop door to hold in the sand / PDZ mixture on the floor. Cleaning is easy and takes just a few minutes with a light weight rake (I use one of those telescoping kind) and a kitty litter scoop.

We don't worry about cold even though it can get quite cold here in WNC. There's plenty of roost space for the girls to roost off of the floor.

If you're not familiar with PDZ, I encourage you to research it a bit. It really does make clean up a breeze.

I wouldn't bother with kilz - odor, fumes, etc would concern me. With the cedar and regular cleaning I would think you'd be in good shape without it. Of course, I'm assuming you've got good ventilation to go with the cedar.

 

[angiadelle]

I used the peel and stick vinyl flooring for my coop. After it was all down, I went over all of the seams and edges with silicon bathtub sealant. I did the same for the droppings board. After it was all dry, we just dumped a full bag of sweet pdz and put shavings on top of it. When it comes time to clean the coop, the litter is so dry that it can be swept out with a broom. It does such a good job, it doesn't even smell like a chicken coop inside the chicken coop! It even dries quickly when I do dumb things like spill a freshly filled waterer...

Does tyvek get slippery when it gets wet?

 

[rjackh]

Hadn't thought about that, I bet tyvek does get slippery. I'll just use peel n stick, thanks.