Easy to clean coop/run flooring? What material to use?

[j_morgan76]

I am wanting to easily harvest my chickens poop for my compost pile. Right now the flooring in my run is natural dead grass and when I go to clean the run my rake gets stuck in the dead grass roots.

The base of my run is a 2x6 so I was thinking of filling it with sand, saw dust, pine chips or something I could rake and skim easily.

What is the best material for this? Any advice would be greatly appriciated.

 

[lorihadams]

I use the "fine" wood shavings from TSC. I like them because they are easy to work with and they sprinkle like sawdust on top of existing litter. I really like it in the winter cause I don't have to use much at all to do deep litter. The dust like shavings are easier to compost too cause they are smaller. I have blueberry bushes and I like to spread some of it with the poop mixed in around the base every spring when I clean out the coop from winter. You do have to use a shovel if the coop is ground level but mine is raised so I just scrape them out into a wheel barrow.

 

[patandchickens]

Since you're in FL, sand is probably your best bet. You can use a fine rake or kitty litter scoop (depending on size of run

) to extract the poos for your garden.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[dgecko]

I do the same as lorihadams
The fine shaving are the best I too get mine at TSC and all the waste products go to either the flowers or the garden
DO NOT USE CEDER OR PAPER

 

[J garden chicks]

I have a 4.5 x 14 foot run. I just laid hardwire cloth over compact dirt. I am thinking of laying 5-6 inches+ total
2 inches of gravel
2 inches of dirt compacted over that
then?
Straw? sand? wood shaving? Hemp bedding?
Any thoughts from the BYC

 

[Ghosty]

I have a 4.5 x 14 foot run. I just laid hardwire cloth over compact dirt. I am thinking of laying 5-6 inches+ total
2 inches of gravel
2 inches of dirt compacted over that
then?
Straw? sand? wood shaving? Hemp bedding?
Any thoughts from the BYC

I really wouldn't suggest hardware cloth in the run. I laid hardware cloth on the ground in my 8 x 16 run, and I'm fixing to take it out. The chickens will dig to the hardware cloth, the gravel will get mixed in your litter/bedding. Your rake will get hung up in the hardware cloth, like the grass roots the op mentioned. It is also hard on the chickens feet.
I did it because I needed a compact base for my run. The soil was too loamy, and I thought a black snake was getting past my hardware cloth apron. I topped the hardware cloth with gravel and then sand. The gravel quickly mixed with the sand. My run is uncovered and slopes, and the rain would cause the sand to wash to one end of the run, uncovering the hardware cloth. My run has been compacted a lot since then, and the hardware cloth and sand have got to go.

 

[Ghosty]

I am wanting to easily harvest my chickens poop for my compost pile. Right now the flooring in my run is natural dead grass and when I go to clean the run my rake gets stuck in the dead grass roots.

The base of my run is a 2x6 so I was thinking of filling it with sand, saw dust, pine chips or something I could rake and skim easily.

What is the best material for this? Any advice would be greatly appriciated.

I don't find it easy to separate poop from wood chips. Over time, I end up with a lot more waste wood chips than poop. I would prefer to collect the poop under the roosts, and let the run do it's thing with a deep litter. I wish I had used 2x6 for my base boards!