Granite floor in chicken run?

[ErinsFlock]

Hello, I am new to keeping chickens and to BYC. We got our 4 hens almost two months ago, we have a small prefab coop set up in a 10x10 chainlink dog kennel. The girls free range from about 7 am to 8 or 9 pm, but I know the free range time will be much shorter during winter as we do live in Pennsylvania.

We need to relocate the chicken run and my husband is building a much bigger and nicer coop. My husband was given a bunch of countertop pieces of granite that have been sitting in our yard for years. We were thinking about using it as the flooring in our run, what do you think? The bottom side of them is not polished so it wouldn't be slick and it is very heavy so nothing would be able to burrow under and move it.
My biggest concern is if it could cause problems to the chickens feet. Thank you in advance for any advice.

 

[vehve]

Hello, I am new to keeping chickens and to BYC. We got our 4 hens almost two months ago, we have a small prefab coop set up in a 10x10 chainlink dog kennel. The girls free range from about 7 am to 8 or 9 pm, but I know the free range time will be much shorter during winter as we do live in Pennsylvania.

We need to relocate the chicken run and my husband is building a much bigger and nicer coop. My husband was given a bunch of countertop pieces of granite that have been sitting in our yard for years. We were thinking about using it as the flooring in our run, what do you think? The bottom side of them is not polished so it wouldn't be slick and it is very heavy so nothing would be able to burrow under and move it.
My biggest concern is if it could cause problems to the chickens feet. Thank you in advance for any advice.

I'm thinking you'd get the best use out of them by selling them and putting that money into the coop and run. But probably they could be used in the run too, and if they seem slippery, you can always use some mulch or pine shavings or something similar on top of the granite.

 

[PilatesGal]

I had what I thought was a brilliant idea of lining my coop with peel 'n stick ceramic tiles. Lots of texture to them and they look lovely and make cleaning the coop a snap. HOWEVER, while the weather was cold and snowy, it was dangerously slippery. The chickens seemed to be fine, but I just about wiped out too many times to count. I also have shavings on the floor, and they just added to the slip 'n slide excitement.

Now that it is summer (sort of) it's great. But next winter I will have to be very careful. I might also try using sand instead of shavings as a poster on here has suggested.

So, depending on your climate, I would tend to agree with the suggestion of selling the granite rather than putting it underfoot. I think good old plywood is the way to go.

 

[aart]

I would agree that selling them, if possible, and using that money for coop materials would be better than using them as a floor in the coop...
.......or depending on how big they are, you could put them up on cinder blocks, rough side up, for a combo lounging platform and sun/rain shelter.


I used a continuous sheet of foam backed vinyl for my coop floor (over hardware cloth over wood) and up the walls 8 inches or so, continuous because I didn't want any seams that moisture could get thru and fester underneath. It can be slippery tho, more for the chooks than for me, with a couple inches of kiln dried pine shavings on it. It's worked well for me for 9 months now, adding some shavings every once in a while and totally changing out all the shavings after 6 months. I use a roost board tho so that cuts down on the amount of poops the shavings have to dry up.