My Coop Flooring Doesn’t Require Bedding

[thecreekhouse]

This is my large chicken tractor with second floor coop.

I have 5 full size hens in my coop and run, as well as one Silkie. The coop and run are surrounded by the Omlet-brand movable fencing, giving my girls extra room to be outside beyond the run. Every few weeks my husband and I relocate the chicken tractor and the fence surrounding it onto fresh grass.

As you can see, the coop sits on top of the run. The coop is 3x6 with a roosting bar that fits all of my hens, as well as having two good sized nesting boxes protruding out the side, giving the coop more floor space.

The one unique feature of the coop is that the entire floor is made of a single sheet of high-quality, laminate, wood flooring. The floor is not designed to be covered in shavings or other litter (although I obviously line each of the nest boxes with soft, comfortable litter). As for the flooring, it’s meant to be covered in a thin layer of Sweet PDZ and once or twice a week I pull the flooring out (easy to do - it easily slides out in one piece) and I throughly scrape it down with a small rake, removing the great majority of all the droppings except for flat, dry droppings left behind. I then reinsert the floor into the coop, shake a light covering of Sweet PDZ across the coop floor and then I’m done.

Once every 4-6 weeks, when we get a warmer day (in the winter anyway; obviously I can do this deep cleaning anytime in the summer), I pull the coop flooring out and I give it a powerful spray with the hose on high volume to get it totally clean. I let it dry in the sun, spray it down with bleachwater, let that dry, and then I reinsert it into the coop (obviously I keep my hens down in the run while I’m doing this deep cleaning). After I reinsert the squeaky clean floor, I don’t cover the flooring with any shavings or other litter.

So far, I am finding this no-bedding style coop cleaning to work really well. Eventually I will have to replace the laminated wood flooring with a new floor in the same dimensions but so far the floor seems to be holding up well to this cleaning routine.

I know that bedding of some sort is required on many coops’ floors to prevent injury when hens hop up and down off of their roosting bar, but with my second story, smaller size coop perched on top of my run surrounded by the Omlet fence, the coop’s roost isn’t very high off of the coop flooring so the risk of injury is low.

I know that many people use vinyl flooring on the bottom of their coops for easy cleaning but I believe that a laminate wood product works just as well for cleaning and offers more secure footing for the chickens as they move around the coop.

Deep litter method undoubtedly works better for larger, walk-in coops but for a coop like mine, which perhaps others of you have too, I’m finding that this flooring/coop cleaning routine works really well.

 

[123RedBeard]

I'm surprised that it's not slippery, how deep of a layer of pdz do you put down?

Curious what the white blob is on top at the end above the doorway is?

Something to look into when it is time to replace the flooring ... look at a piece of shower surround ... usually the "cut to fit" are just flat panels ... and have slight bumply surface, which would also be water proof!

 

[thecreekhouse]

I'm surprised that it's not slippery, how deep of a layer of pdz do you put down?

Curious what the white blob is on top at the end above the doorway is?

I just use a light dusting of the PDZ. The particular wood flooring product that I’m using that provides good footing for my hens. (I’m emailing my builder to find out the name of the soecific wood flooring he used in building the coop. I’ll update my post with that info).

As for the “blobs” on either end of the coop and run, I think you’re likely pointing out the motion sensor lights we have mounted on both ends.

 

[123RedBeard]

I'm only seeing one "white blob" ... on the right side of the picture, looks like it is mounted to the very top, and end of the roof of the run ... I guess it would be a light over looking the door that is shown open to your electric fenced run

When I think of laminate wood ... I think of pretty flooring for your house ... but thinking about it now ... plywood is also just wood layers "laminated" together ... interested to find out what it actually is ...

 

[aart]

Would love to see the flooring being pulled out.

What's under the flooring and how do you keep that clean while the flooring is drying??

I see you have been a member here since 2015,
have you been using this technique for all those years?

 

[thecreekhouse]

Would love to see the flooring being pulled out.

It’s raining today but will get a video as soon as I can.


What's under the flooring and how do you keep that clean while the flooring is drying??

The subflooring is another type of board. When I clean the coop I move my hens down into the run so they cannot soil the subflooring while I’m cleaning the slide in-and-our laminate board.

I see you have been a member here since 2015,
have you been using this technique for all those years?

For years I used a retrofitted Rubbermaid shed for my coop, shoveling the soiled shavings our each weekend and then hosing down the plastic flooring.

I recently had Keith at https://smokymtnchickentractors.com/ build my new coop and run with the unique slide out, easy-clean laminate floor board.

 

[thecreekhouse]

Would love to see the flooring being pulled out.

What's under the flooring and how do you keep that clean while the flooring is drying??

I see you have been a member here since 2015,
have you been using this technique for all those years?

 

[thecreekhouse]

Would love to see the flooring being pulled out.

What's under the flooring and how do you keep that clean while the flooring is drying??

I see you have been a member here since 2015,
have you been using this technique for all those years?

It’s raining today but I will get photos/video of how I slide the laminate flooring out and clean it as soon as weather permits.

The subflooring beneath the pull out/clean off flooring is another type of plywood. I move my hens down to the run when I’m removing and cleaning the laminate floor/drying it.

I just invested recently in this coop and run from master builder Keith from https://smokymtnchickentractors.com/. Before that I had a coop and run made from a retrofitted Rubbermaid shed where I’d just shovel out the shavings every 2-3 weeks and then hose down the plastic bottom. My new coop is far easier to clean, plus I dont have to figure out where to store all the soiled shavings every few weeks (I don’t compost so I never did figure out a good place to pile up all the dirty shavings in my yard.)

 

[aart]

It’s raining today but I will get photos/video of how I slide the laminate flooring out and clean it as soon as weather permits.

Look forward to it.