Flooring for new coop

[bgates1970]

What type of flooring works best for a chicken coop.

I currently have a wooden floor which at times really sucks to clean up because you never really get it clean. I was thinking of putting linoleum in my new coop so I could spray it out and clean the floors better. However, I heard linoleum is bad because the chickens can't really get their footing very well on them. Lots of sliding around.


So many posts about this... still torn between wood floor vs. linoleum.

 

[chi-rn]

Linoleum is usually too slippery. Why not just sprinkle your wood floor with pine wood shavings?... They're really economic & absorb well. No cedar though... not good for chicken's respiratory tract. You can also put newspaper down before the wood shavings... Makes clean up easier. But I find just picking up the poop from the shavings daily, with a complete change-out of shavings every week or two is quite effective. I do use a layer of newspaper under & sprinkle food-grade DE over the wood floor first, then paper, then shavings...

 

[3dogs]

I put down linoleum in my goose/chicken coop myself, and did a poor job. The piece was bigger than the floor and I let it go up the walls a bit, not thinking that both sets of birds would find tearing it up to be an amusing pastime. When I had a goose shed built, the contractor glued down the linoleum and placed quarter round (?) wood strips along the edges where the walls met the floor and a metal strip at the doorway to prevent the geese from being able to have any place to pull at the linoleum.

Linoleum is slippery, but a thick layer of straw or hay has worked well for me. I need to replace the chicken coop flooring, and install it the right way!

 

[ALRwild]

My coop has linoleum floors. What I do is put a layer of straw, hay, or pine shavings so that they don't slip. Then if you need to clean your coop then go ahead and rake out the hay and spray down the floor. Then add a fresh layer of hay.

 

[nurse_turtle]

I used those peel and stick tiles, mostly because it is something I could handle by myself. Check out the clearance cart at Lowe's home depot, etc. (75% off). I plan to use DE in pine shavings using the deep litter method. I may put some lime in the mix.

 

[Hawkeye95]

I'm not there yet (still building!) but I am going to use a sheet of vinyl flooring. It won't be too slick if you lay down pine shavings and use the deep litter method. In that case, your floor will be buried under about 6 inches of shavings! But the upside, is that I plan on using a hose and washing out the coop a couple times a year and the floor should clean right up easy! Well, that is the plan.

Also, I have heard people complain about their birds pulling at the edges of it- but I plan on covering all edges with treated wood screwed along it so that there will be nothing they can pull up or get a hold of. I have seen some people lay down tile, too. That would be a lot more pricey than a piece of vinyl.

 

[citychickx6]

I have linoleum in mine and on my poop boards. I love it. The poo sticks to the pine shavings and it takes only a few minutes to clean. I sweep it into a pile and use a plastic scoop shovel to lift it into the bags. (planning on getting a compost bin) I glued it down and took it 6 inches up the wall. I put 1x2s on the edges and no pulling at it or tearing it up so far.

 

[fireguy56]

Hi, Ditto on the congoleum. Love it.....not slippery at all, because it is covered with about 6" of pine shaving, DE and some Sevin. Just secure the edges with some sort of baseboard to keep girls from pulling away from the wall. When spring cleanup time comes its gonna be a snap to shovel or rake through my side people door onto a tarp to drag to the compost pile. Good luck on your decision. Just remember, if ya got a waterer in your hen house, ya gonna have water spillage....it's inevitable. The congoleum will protect the wood below from water damage. Just my opinion.
Erik