Dirt floor vs. wood floor

[Sc00ter4900]

Hi I have had my coop in use For 5 months so far. It has a dirt floor. Its 7'x7' With a 13'x 20' run . I HAVE 3 RI Reds and 3 plymouth rocks. Once a week i rake it out. Hasn't smelt too bad yet. I need a second coop for my new flock. Of corse im going bigger but not sure if i should stay with a dirt floor? Just wondering if any one has gone from dirt floor to wood floor or from wood back to dirt floor? Now that the roof is all done its realy dry. Dirt floor is cheaper Thanks Scotty

 

[spottedtail]

Rats and predators will eventually come through the dirt floor.
It's only a matter of time.

Wood is better, but concrete is best.

spot

 

[Germaine_11.20]

I put my hens that I was getting ready to process in a dog kennel and noticed right away how dirty their eggs were. Wood helps keep them cleaner.

 

[jupitergirl]

I have a wood floored shed that we put plywood over the top to protect the actual floor. 6 inches of shavings/straw mix keeps the floor itself pretty clean and dry. No need to scoop it out other than a couple of times a year. I turn it over with a rake once in a while. All of this has been reccommended to me by other chicken people.

 

[dacdeihl]

I have a dirt floor and love it. I keep about six inches of wood shavings down to help. Over time I put some lime dust down for the smell and mix that in. They really only BM around their roost so the rest of the coop stays really clean. When we build our next coop it will have dirt floors.

 

[Sc00ter4900]

thanks I think Im going to stick with dirt for now. Its what I can aford. Scotty

 

[shelleyd2008]

Quote:
Rats can chew through concrete, the best way to do this is to put down wire with gravel then sand on it, the rats can't get through the wire.

 

[Wildsky]

I like my dirt floor. Granted it might be easier to clean if I could sweep the shavings and stuff out.

For winter time, the girls just love dust bathing in the coop - they couldn't do that otherwise, no scratching around in frozen ground even if they do get through the snow and ice.

 

[Lil Chickie Mama]

This is my first year with chickens but so far I love having a dirt floor. I'm in a mild winter area with no snow, but rain will likely be an issue whenever it starts. The only thing I can say is that I agree with the pp who said to reinforce it with a wire bottom. I didn't yet but I plan to soon (once harvest is over and I have a life again) because about a week ago I thought I had a rat but it turned out to just be a gopher. Either way though it made me realize that for the coop we need better protection. I just plan to lay some hardware cloth down and attach it to the sides of my coop (dog kennel wire) and voila! Then on top of that I'll again put DE so the floor is all white but instead of rice hulls which work great when it's hot but I'm unsure how they'll do in the winter, I'm putting a big thick layer like 6" or so of sand (with pebbles) and putting rice hulls on top of the sand. That way if the rice hulls don't work I can just rake them off.

 

[shelleyd2008]

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