Flooring for the Coop/Run? sand?

[Bcoz18]

Good Afternoon All,
I built a coop for our chickens. it has the coop itself on top where they sleep/roost up for the night and then they have a inside run area below which has their food, water and two roosting bars for the day time. They also have a outside run that is gated in while we are home but if we are out of town or something they stay in the inside coop/run area. we have a total of 10 Chickens. 3 are roughly 30 weeks and then we have about 7 that are 8 weeks old. For the most part the older chickens stay in the top part and the younger stay in the bottom area for night time. Heres the questions
the bottom part is terrible. we have wood flooring with waterproofing which is easy to wash out and since we added the 7 younger ones it is so nasty! poop all over, then its all over the feet and just over all dirty! I do wash it out 2 times a week and im over that. I have researched hay, sand, pine chippings and not sure what would be the best. We used pine chippings before and it the run got wet it would just smell and bring flies which is a big no no for me so I took out the chippings and now its just wood and like I said I don't like that either.
I was looking at trying sand but would like to know some more information.
when they poop and they are running around and step in it will it will the poop stick to their feet? do you have to use a cat litter thing to scoop the poop out and if so how often? Pros and cons of having sand vs having pine chippings. I don't want them tracking Droppings allover the place!

THEY ARE IN CLOSE QUARTERS FROM ABOUT 8PM-9AM (but it seems from 6am-9am they poop a whole days worth! OTHER THAN THAT THEY ARE FREE RANGE UNLESS WE ARE OUT OF TOWN FOR THE WEEKEND AND THEN THEY ARE IN THE INSIDE RUN/COOP ALL WEEKEND

 

[CatWhisperer]

In a situation where they are kept in close quarters all the time I would recommend sand with daily poop scooping. I use this scooper every morning and sometimes evening also in the one small sand run I have. My coops and other 2 runs are in deep litter with pine shavings. My birds all free range all day and I scoop their poop boards (with PDZ on them) every morning also.

 

[Big Doggie]

Good Afternoon All,
I built a coop for our chickens. it has the coop itself on top where they sleep/roost up for the night and then they have a inside run area below which has their food, water and two roosting bars for the day time. They also have a outside run that is gated in while we are home but if we are out of town or something they stay in the inside coop/run area. we have a total of 10 Chickens. 3 are roughly 30 weeks and then we have about 7 that are 8 weeks old. For the most part the older chickens stay in the top part and the younger stay in the bottom area for night time. Heres the questions
the bottom part is terrible. we have wood flooring with waterproofing which is easy to wash out and since we added the 7 younger ones it is so nasty! poop all over, then its all over the feet and just over all dirty! I do wash it out 2 times a week and im over that. I have researched hay, sand, pine chippings and not sure what would be the best. We used pine chippings before and it the run got wet it would just smell and bring flies which is a big no no for me so I took out the chippings and now its just wood and like I said I don't like that either.
I was looking at trying sand but would like to know some more information.
when they poop and they are running around and step in it will it will the poop stick to their feet? do you have to use a cat litter thing to scoop the poop out and if so how often? Pros and cons of having sand vs having pine chippings. I don't want them tracking Droppings allover the place!

THEY ARE IN CLOSE QUARTERS FROM ABOUT 8PM-9AM (but it seems from 6am-9am they poop a whole days worth! OTHER THAN THAT THEY ARE FREE RANGE UNLESS WE ARE OUT OF TOWN FOR THE WEEKEND AND THEN THEY ARE IN THE INSIDE RUN/COOP ALL WEEKEND

I use PDZ on the coop floor. The poop falls on the PDZ and it takes me about 5 to 10 minutes to scoop it out with a kitty litter slotted scoop. The PDZ falls back on the coop floor and the poop gets removed and composted. Kills the smell too.

 

[Bcoz18]

I use PDZ on the coop floor. The poop falls on the PDZ and it takes me about 5 to 10 minutes to scoop it out with a kitty litter slotted scoop. The PDZ falls back on the coop floor and the poop gets removed and composted. Kills the smell too.

I see there is a lot of PDZ some for horses and "coops" and other pets.. im guessing you mean PDZ for coops and then I have never seen anything like this is a store near me but from google it looks like its in a powder form? would you put down a thin layer or how much would you put down. we have a 4x8 and its all wired "hard cloth" around it so it does get a little wet on the floor depending which way the rain is coming so can it get wet or will it clump up?

 

[3KillerBs]

How many square feet of coop space and run space do you have for these 10 chickens?

The usual recommendation is 4 square feet per bird inside the coop PLUS 10 square feet per bird in the run. Thus a 10-bird flock needs 40 square feet inside the coop, that is a 5'x8' coop minimum, and 100 square feet in the run, that is a 10'x10' foot area minimum.

Part-time free-ranging doesn't count toward these space requirements if they are ever confined to the smaller coop and run area.

The more birds in a space the harder it will be to keep clean enough to ensure good health.

 

[aart]

I see there is a lot of PDZ some for horses and "coops" and other pets.

It's the same stuff.... buy the horse sized bag, it's much cheaper.