Floor of Coop

[lmdengler]

I have an extra large walk-in coop from TSC. The enclosed part of the coop is raised off the ground and has a slide-in tray that you are supposed to be able to pull out and clean. After having chickens now for just over 4 months - I had wished I asked around before buying this coop. Be that as it may - "I must work with what I have" as my mother used to say. The "Floor" of the coop is a thin metal sheet that is the drawer you pull out.. To date I have been throwing down shavings to cover the floor. Then scooping out all the shavings at least every other day as the floor gets full of waste. My question is - should not be putting anything down and just scooping out the waste? Should I put straw down instead? Any suggestions? Winter is approaching and I am hoping to have a system down before it gets cold out. Then I also wondered if I should pop down some of those stick down floor tiles. I have a stack of them left over in my cellar. That might make the clean up easier and more sanitary.

 

[AlleysChicks]

Ah. I’m in the same boat. I have just been adding bedding on top and mixing it. I hate the plastic trays because they crack easy.

 

[Hen Pen Jem]

I would just leave the tray in and seal the slot for the winter. I worry too, that a predator or even mice and rats can use that slot to gain entry into the coop. I have an elevated walk in coop that my husband built. It is easy to keep clean, I keep a 2 inch thick layer of pine shavings on the floor during Summer and up to 5 inches in the Winter. I go in daily and pick up the droppings only. I just add more shavings when needed. The shavings are so absorbent that the poop just sticks. Lots of chicken keepers just cover the poop with more shavings. It's just a matter of preference how much you clean. I collect the droppings for my garden compost, plus I don't want my girls to step on poop on the way into their nest boxes. I clean out the entire coop each Fall and Spring. I fill a tank sprayer with water and bleach and clean: windows, perches, floor and walls. One way or another you will have to clean out the poop, either on the bare floor or on the shavings. When you keep an animal in captivity good husbandry practices contribute to good health.

 

[lmdengler]

What do you use to pick up the droppings? I hate to be thick - but when I pick up the droppings - I am ending up picking up all the shavings too. This is the coop I have: https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/p...ra-large-green-walk-in-coop-up-to-15-chickens
You can see the floor of it is a steel sheet. I surely wish I had a walk-in! My husband put a run extension on it so there would be more room in the chicken run for them .

 

[lmdengler]

I've sort of become compulsive with cleaning it. I clean it out every day and scrub it sometimes 2x a week. I don't want them to be dirty. I'm afraid of bugs or mites or flies or maggots or worms or anything that might be disgusting. I'm trying to get past this - so anyone who reads this try not to laugh as much as my brother who lives in Mississippi and has bazzoodles of chickens. He cracks up whenever I send him questions like this and wants to know when I am moving them in the house. He about fell off his chair when he found out I was bringing Daisy back and forth with me to our house up north for fear she would get picked on. He couldn't stop laughing when I told him I brought her to work with me when she was sick. He just doesn't think about "living creatures" the same way I do!!!

 

[Starling5767]

I am right there with you. If I have a sick chicken it is immediately taken into the house. Years ago I raised my baby chicks in the house. My chickens are part of my family. Sounds like your chickens are well loved also !

I have a coop similar to yours (also purchased at TSC) that I have placed inside an enclosed area. This is actually a nice set up but I had the same issue with the slide out drawer. At first I used shavings but that was kind of a pain because there was no way to get my manure fork in there to clean up the poo. Like you I had to take them all out. I started using grass hay and I like the way it works better. I put on rubber gloves and remove the pieces of soiled hay. I will admit at first I thought I was going to remove the soiled hay without gloves and that didn't impress me much So gloves it is. I clean my coop daily too!

 

[Hen Pen Jem]

Oh, I like the way you all think! I enjoy my 9 hens and my rooster too. I don't just care for them, I also try to enrich their environment so they have a good quality of life. I also teach them key phrases and words so they know what I want them to do. Like, "scoot, scoot, scooty" means move out of my way. Also, "no peck" to my rooster, he knows not to peck me! They each know their names too and will come when called, or at least look up at me to acknowledge they heard me. They are so funny! My husband thinks I'm nuts.

Back to your coop issue...wow, I see what you mean about your coop. If I had that coop, I would use sand on the tray. Then I would use a cat litter scoop to pick up the poops. I have sand in my run, it is easy to keep clean.

 

[lmdengler]

Cat litter - I never would have thought of that. Last night I tried leaving the floor bare. As in no shavings. BAD IDEA! What a mess! Tonight I teach so I won't be able to clean until I get home'which won't be until after they have gone in for the night . They must hate me now for leaving them in such filth!!

 

[aart]

Cat litter - I never would have thought of that. Last night I tried leaving the floor bare. As in no shavings. BAD IDEA! What a mess! Tonight I teach so I won't be able to clean until I get home'which won't be until after they have gone in for the night . They must hate me now for leaving them in such filth!!

Cat Litter SCOOP ....not cat litter. You probably know but just clarifying. They really don't care about the filth.

I really wouldn't worry about 'washing' it...you really want to keep it dry.
Lining pan with a single sheet of good vinyl might help,
less likely for poops to stick than the metal.
A dust pan might work to scoop out the poopy shavings.

Sand might work for you...but it could freeze solid in your winter.
Granular Sweet PDZ would be a bit less likely to freeze than a fine sand,
I use a mix and the wet ones freeze solid in the sand, can be hard to get up.
Either may well jam the slider track so might have to scoop with coop door open.

 

[micstrachan]

My coop floor has pine shavings, but rarely gets any poop in it, because I have a "poop deck" full of construction sand and pdz under the roosts. I sift it about every 2-3 days, but would prefer to sift daily if I had my act together better.
We built an addition, which has a floor at the same level as the roosts in the main coop. The addition started with pine shavings, but they were making such a mess, I added rice hulls with the intention of switching to rice hulls or rice hulls mixed with construction sand in the upper floor over time so I can scoop poop there, too.
In case anyone is wondering, the reason for the multiple levels is that it's a converted redwood play structure. The main coop was the playhouse and the addition was a deck. There is also a third level over the main coop. It was sort of a loft, but now I use it for storage with a separate access.