Horse mats for floor of coop?

[bruceha2000]

Interesting concept. Certainly could make changing out the litter less work if it will fit through the door. If a problem, I guess you could use two smaller tarps that overlap. No shovels or rakes.

Thanks for the thought,
Bruce

 

[tarutgers]

I searched for rubber mats and came across this thread. I was thinking of using horse stall mats as well and was wondering why one has to use litter at all. If you have an outside run with stay and a small plastic pool (sand) for bathing and litter in the nesting boxes. I think the floor would be soft, warm and easy to keep clean and dry. Please give me your thoughts

 

[4 the Birds]

I searched for rubber mats and came across this thread. I was thinking of using horse stall mats as well and was wondering why one has to use litter at all. If you have an outside run with stay and a small plastic pool (sand) for bathing and litter in the nesting boxes. I think the floor would be soft, warm and easy to keep clean and dry. Please give me your thoughts

Alot of chicken poo is runny and you will need pine chips or some type of bedding "litter" to soak up or solidify messes. I use horse mats in our dog pens on the ground in high traffic areas (knocks down mud holes). One type of mat is somewhat smooth and the other has holes. These mats can be very heavy if you are thinking about removing them and washing them occasionally. I just have wood planks for my coop flooring with pine chips and that provides a good soft base. Rubber mats can be good for horses that stand in their stalls for extended periods.

 

[tarutgers]

4 the birds
thanks for your response! I homeschool my daughter and we are at home most every day. My plan is for her to sweep and mop mat everyday, our outside run is bedded with straw to eventually put aside Twice a year for compost. Asked my vet and he said the stall mats would definitely prevent bumblefoot. I think I might try it, my uncle has a big dairy operation and he has offered me enough mat for the inside of my coop for FREE

 

[4 the Birds]

No problem... mopping the mats daily sounds like alot of work. You may try some bedding on the floor sometime to see how that works for you as well. Good Luck!

 

[bruceha2000]

I agree with John. Cleaning them daily will get old. Fast. If you don't clean them daily it will stink to high heaven. I don't think I would consider rubber mats only unless I could hose them off. A sponge mop won't last long rubbing back and forth on rubber and you will be there all day trying to "pick up" all the poop with that or a string mop. Chickens poop wherever they happen to be, not all in one easy to clean place.

Bruce

 

[Murphyslaw123]

My birds live in our barn, in a box stall with rubber mats on the floor. I have about 6-10" of straw and hay over it. Daily I clean up visible poop (it takes 30 seconds to do that) and I toss it into the corner, below the roost bars, where we use the deep litter method. I empty that area every 2-3 months. No issues so far. It's been very easy to keep clean.

 

[tarutgers]

Thanks everyone! this is our first coop and brooder. We have our little girls and boy arriving the first week of may. We just moved to this farm in November and my daughter and I researched many hour on how we wanted to best utilize the beautiful barn we now have. Chickens won!! I feel like an adoptive mother and n my 11 Year old swears she is sooo excited to clean! We will see how long that lasts. We plan too spend alot of time with them. The eggs will be nice but just having them around will bee nicer!

 

[Going Quackers]

Also the slippery factor.. you'd be on your bum quite a bit when you stepped on those droppings lol, honestly they are best with some bedding now you don't have to bed as deep, i don't practice a deep bedding method just enough to keep them covered, i pick clean daily, that is just my way.

 

[bruceha2000]

We just moved to this farm in November and my daughter and I researched many hour on how we wanted to best utilize the beautiful barn we now have.

Me too! Well, except it was Nov of 2011 and my "new" barn isn't in great shape, but it is historic

Half was built between 1820 and 1840, the rest apparently taken off a larger barn and moved to be attached to the original, probably originally built around 1870-1880.

But I had the same issue, a barn with acreage and "what the heck do I do with it?" Can't just let it sit, how horribly wasteful. I'm not an "estate" kind of guy who wants to look at acres and acres of manicured lawn. Besides the condition of the barns, I have this issue of a daughter who is an emotional vegetarian. That means we have a farm where we can not raise any animals that will be eaten by anyone.

That leaves bees for honey, chickens for eggs and fiber animals for, well fiber. Until the barns are repaired, I am limited to my chickens because I really don't have time to figure out bees right now. And since it turns out the house needs serious work, the barns will have to wait until the money fairy flies over and drops a bundle on us.

If you are converting a stall, plan to use a lot of 1/2" hardware cloth to keep predators out. I figured I didn't have to deal with the floor since the horse mats are there but small rodents figured out where the seam was between the mats and the wall and were making use of the free food. I wasn't horribly worried about that but then last November we saw an ermine (white weasel - winter coloring) by the house. They wouldn't have ANY problem following the holes made by the mice and voles, just a little extra digging, so I picked up the mats (dang are they heavy and unwieldy) and attached hardware cloth to the walls and across the floor, the put the mats back down. No more rodent holes.

Bruce