Dirt in the coop

[Hopeful homesteader]

After a flood issue in my coop, I used dirt to soak up the water and shoveled it out then reapplied more dirt to absorb the moisture from the wood with great success. After a week of that I finally swept it all out and I found the floor looked like new again, a little dirt stained but all the poop I was having to scrape off previously just swept out with the dirt so I decided to keep a thin layer of dirt on the floor all the time for easier clean up with bedding over top. Has anyone else tried this? What is the down side to this? I know some people use sand, how often would I need to change out the dirt? I'd be raking out all the bedding at least once a month and scooping under roosts several times a week but idk if the dirt needs changing monthly or just see how it looks/smells when I change out the bedding?

 

[casportpony]

Do you have any pictures of the coop?

 

[Hopeful homesteader]

Do you have any pictures of the coop?

 

[Hopeful homesteader]

View attachment 2833309View attachment 2833311

You can see a line in the dirt where the rain runs off the roof, I've built up a mound of dirt just inside that line and then dug maybe a 2 inch deep trench outside the rain line so the water runs away towards the fence instead of puddling under the coop. It's been successful this far. The floor is a sheet of wood that sits on the dirt, we're eventually going to pour concrete or pavers for it set on but we didn't want squirrels and other rodents from digging in.