Dirt floor vs. wood floor

[dacdeihl]

Gravel under the sand and on top of the wire will help with drainage.

My husband does field tile for farmers for a side living. The idea of putting down chicken wire, then larger gravel, then sand will work great for wet areas. The only problem we are fighting with our run is mud. The grass was knee high in the spring, then came the chickens. It's down to nubbs now with alot of mud. They don't seem to mind it though. Next spring we are going to build another run and move them from run to run to let grass grow up. Kind of like sheep pastureing. It will be interesting.

 

[Lil Chickie Mama]

Thank you! I was planning to do that as long as the price allows. How thick do you do the gravel?

To the OP, sorry for the semi-hijack...

 

[Chicksdigit]

Dirt floor.........I have one with plywood floor and one with dirt the dirt is so much easier............ I dug trenches and sunk the metal walls a foot down and no water, mice, rats ....anything gets into the coop and there is nowhere under the floor for rats and mice and snakes etc. to nest.

 

[CoyoteMagic]

Dirt floor. I cover it with wood shavings and a bit of straw. Toss in some DE and a handful of scratch once a month and the hens turn it for me. I clean it out once or twice a year. More problems with flies outside the coop than in.

 

[Sc00ter4900]

Quote:
Hummmmm what are rice hulls?

 

[the 412 chicks]

me and my dad just but a coop its a 12x24 and it has a dirt floor. so far so good

 

[Lil Chickie Mama]

Quote:
Hummmmm what are rice hulls?

Sorry. Rice hulls are a byproduct of the drying/storing/cleaning process to take rice that is in the field and making it edible. What ends up on your table looks hardly anything like what comes out of the field. Oh, and for the record, all rice is both brown rice and white rice, to get white rice you just continue to polish the rice until the bran layer is off and you can see the white. With brown you leave it on and just remove the hull, IMO brown rice=YUM. Basically you have the inner white layer, then a layer of brown, then a layer of hull which protects it.

I live on site of a grain storage and drying facility that my FIL owns and we have more than we know what to do with. We usually sell them to local dairies that use them as bedding but 1) we have to call them to come get them before it rains and sometimes they don't need them 2) I've heard it can be bad when used for large animals because it can get in their eyes and be very irritating. I do know that Foster Farms uses them but sadly they don't buy them from us. I've used rice hulls since getting my chickens and they love it! I'm just wondering how they'll stand up to the rain (this is my first year with chickens)

 

[Dons916]

I just joined today and this is my first post. Lots of good information here.
This is my first coop and I'm going to have a dirt floor.Then I will go from there.
Coyots are my worry. They have got three of my goats. I'm going to put fied fencing on the lower part over the chicken wire.With a sensor light I might be OK. (I hope)
Don (WILTON CA.)

 

[azelgin]

Quote:
You're kidding, right? What kind of rats are you talking about? Do they have industrial diamond studded teeth?

I don't think so.

 

[Beekissed]

I've had dirt, wood and concrete floors and I would have to say that I prefer the dirt flooring. It's absorbent, provides great dusting spots in winter and wet weather, is easy to rake out and the birds seem to prefer it more.