Flooring!

[BigNeck69]

Hi There, I have an Old Dog Heat Pen that i'm am using for my coop, It has Slates for flooring, some poop gets through and some don't. Is it best to put in a solid floor and build a boarder around it and put in shavings??? I live in Va Hott and Humid and really want to keep things nice and free of flies too?? This is going to be my Full time chicken coop, and i plan on adding to it soon..!!

Any ideals/inputs on floor and Flies etc........??

Thanks Cliff

 

[iwiw60]

Can you post a picture????

 

[BigNeck69]

I hope u can what I'm talking about with the slates!

 

[BigNeck69]

I'm going to close off both sides soon and put more roosting boxes! But I think a solid floor would be best???

 

[BigNeck69]

Like I said it's an old heat pen for dogs so I will just us it as a coop!

 

[joannefiddler]

I would suggest a piece of linoleum to cover the slats and then sand to cover the linoleum. If you can put a poop tray under the roosts where they sleep at night and put granular "Sweet PDZ" in the poop tray, I find that helps with the flies. I use a cat litter scooper to cover the poops from the night before with the Sweet PDZ and then once or twice a week i scoop it out and discard to compost pile. The PDZ dries out the poos and that really helps with the fly population.

 

[BigNeck69]

Thanks for info, the back where they sleep, that's a solid floor with 12" cubbies and Pine shavings!!

 

[joannefiddler]

I might not be understanding the arrangement, but you want them sleeping on roosts (like a 2x4 across an open space), not in something they might also want to use as a nest. Don't want them sleeping and laying eggs in the same spot...or you get dirty eggs. There are lots of good links if you search for "roosts" in the coop design section here. Best wishes for your project!

 

[BigNeck69]

Thank u for that info, I did not know that!!

 

[iwiw60]

I hope u can what I'm talking about with the slates!

Yes, now I see what you're talking about. As you live in Virginia your winter temps are going to be way too low for your flock to withstand. The air that's going to come up through there will be awful for them. Slap some plywood in there for your base and then I'd recommend putting a remnant piece of linoleum on top (and up the sides if you can)...this will give you a good surface especially for cleaning purposes.

How many chickens are you housing in it? And what's the size of that coop?