Easy to clean material for coop floor- HELP!

[OldMacDonald]

MeowCluckBark- Laminate flooring is a great idea. I use it for bench tops because it's hard, flat and durable. But nothing sticks to it. You may not want to use that poly. It may just flake off! Besides, it's already got a coating, so it should be fine without it.

As for moisture underneath my countertop floor, my coop design is for a 3'X10' "house" that is 3 feet off the ground and the run is underneath, so my particle board won't be absorbing moisture from the ground. Of course I could put some exterior paint on it to seal it up anyway.

 

[audioguy]

You should definitely paint/seal the underside with a good exterior sealer. Particle board is like a sponge and will absorb water from the air, over time and eventually rot or warp. Might be years, but with rain and snow and wildly fluctuation temps, it could cause a problem.
Particle board is used inside since the temps don't swing from below zero to over 100 degrees like outside, but FREE is FREE!

 

[dbounds10]

My only comment about the slippery floor is that I have read several times from lots of different posters that slippery floors cause "splayed feet" and that is bad. If you search for it you will find tins of posts about it. Some people have even lost chicks to it. If you can figure out how to make it non slip then use it, otherwise I would use 5/8 plywood and paint.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
That is exclusively an issue with young chicks. If this is for a *coop* not a brooder, it's a non-issue. (Even in a brooder, as long as you use a sufficient depth of shavings over top of the slippery floor and chekc often enough to make sure that bare spots don't develop, it is ok)

I would totally not trust the idea of "the formica will protect the particleboard so it is ok to use the particleboard in the coop" though. Kitchen counters are basically dry, in a dry area, and dry out easily if something unusual happens. Coop floors, not so much. In particular, it would be awful easy to get dampness started tracking in under the formica skin from the edges, even if you THINK you've sealed them well enough. Then you will get rot and sag, and a potentially big-and-annoying replacement job.

You can do it of course if you really want, and with sufficient bedding (possibly a LOT -- you'd be surprised how much chicikens can skid around even in just a 3x10 coop!) it should work fine for a while; but a plywood floor would be more durable.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[suzeqf]

i would seal the floor first them put down the laminate just to be on the safe side and maybe rough it up a bit with course sandpaper. i wouldn't use laminate flooring if you are going to have water in your coop i have it in my house and the least little bit of water makes the seams buckle we are going to replace it with vinyl in the kitchen and back porch area

 

[crj]

I guess no one read my post about the feed bags on page 2. As for water and feed? Leave the feed outside unless it rains and put the waterer on top of a concrete block or something as high and a little wider and you will have no problems. I have my waterer on a concrete block but I find the chickens can knock it over but that hardly happens. That's why I say something a little wider.

 

[wyoDreamer]

In my old house, the countertop swelled up and peeled apart from a small cut on the front edge that was right above the dishwasher. I didn't use the dry function, would just crack the door open and let the dishes air dry. Of course, that was an intense steam bath for the counter every three days, But it really deteriorated fast once it started. That was really cheap countertop material also.

If you decide to use the countertop for flooring, I would definately make sure to paint the particle board underside, that will give a longer life. And using a thick layer of wood shavings will also keep the moisture off the laminate, give the chickens better footing, and help keep it in good shape. Isn't that what you do with the "Deep Litter" method?

I really like the idea of using it on the wall behind the roosts to make wall-poop cleanup easier. I may try that when I build my coop.

 

[mcjessen]

We're going to use the spray on rubberized undercoating on the floor.

 

[ninabeast]

I love the idea of the split feed bags. Just getting my peeps tomorrow, so I'll start saving up for the coop.

 

[OldMacDonald]

The wall on the back of the coop (behind the roost) is vinal siding because the coop is built right against a sided shed. It should be very easy to clean. Maybe I should use vinyl siding on the floor instead of the Formica counter top? I have quite a bit of it left over from the house. Of course it is not waterproof at the seams, but it is easy to clean.