Indoor run flooring

[Karab819]

I have a large indoor area which will be our coop/indoor run with a concrete floor, inside our barn. There will be a seperate outdoor run. I am completely new to this and am unsure what to put on the concrete floors. I have heard sand, some say pine shavings. It is about 16x8 feet. I would love to hear what you would do. Thanks!

 

[aart]

Not a fan of sand, except for on the poop boards.
16x8 is a lot of area to scoop poops from.


What kind of bedding you use may depend on how you manage the manure.
This is about cleaning, but covers my big picture

-I use poop boards under roosts with thin(<1/2") layer of sand/PDZ mix, sifted daily(takes 5-10mins) into bucket going to friends compost.
-Scrape big or wet poops off roost and ramps as needed.
-Pine shavings on coop floor, add some occasionally, totally changed out once or twice a year, old shavings added to run.
- My runs have semi-deep litter(cold composting), never clean anything out, just add smaller dry materials on occasion, add larger wood chippings as needed.
Aged ramial wood chippings are best IMO.
-Nests are bedded with straw, add some occasionally, change out if needed(broken egg).

There is no odor, unless a fresh cecal has been dropped and when I open the bucket to add more poop.
That's how I keep it 'clean', have not found any reason to clean 'deeper' in 7 years.

 

[3KillerBs]

Welcome to BYC.

I'm a great fan of Deep Bedding to minimize cleaning while keeping everything dry and fresh.

This article is about using Deep Bedding in small coops, but the principles scale up.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/using-deep-bedding-in-a-small-coop.76343/

 

[rosemarythyme]

Since it's concrete and under cover (I'm assuming the barn stays dry, no leaks?), sand is an option, as long as you're fine with scooping poop out regularly.

If you'd rather do less daily/routine poop management, then deep bedding would be something to look into.

 

[neo71665]

Pine shavings. I tried sand in a covered run and it was a mess. The humidity gets high around here and it was enough to cause the stuff to clump up. I wouldn't use it anywhere but for a dust bath mixed with wood ashes.

 

[Toetwo]

Since it's concrete and under cover (I'm assuming the barn stays dry, no leaks?), sand is an option, as long as you're fine with scooping poop out regularly.

If you'd rather do less daily/routine poop management, then deep bedding would be something to look into.

So can you do deep litter if you have concrete or wood floor?

 

[3KillerBs]

So can you do deep litter if you have concrete or wood floor?

It's possible, though more difficult, to do Deep Litter on concrete. You *can* even do Deep Litter on wood -- but the active composting will eat the wood of the floor just like it digests the wood shavings in the process of reacting with and neutralizing the manure.

Deep Bedding, however -- a dry, non-composting system -- is perfectly fine on any flooring.

 

[Toetwo]

It's possible, though more difficult, to do Deep Litter on concrete. You *can* even do Deep Litter on wood -- but the active composting will eat the wood of the floor just like it digests the wood shavings in the process of reacting with and neutralizing the manure.

Deep Bedding, however -- a dry, non-composting system -- is perfectly fine on any flooring.

Thank you!