New coop coming...need suggestions on floor.

[arockkid]

We have a little side room on our garage that will be a coop very soon, and had some questions....
We plan to put one window in, and I wondered if 2 would be better. I assume more light in there would keep it warmer as we're in Buffalo, and keeping it cool is less of an issue than warmth. Or do chickens prefer to have it darker in the coop?
Also, the floor in that section...well...doesn't exist. It's dirt covered in pebbles.
I was thinking of just laying a sheet of linoleum in there so that it can just be pulled out and hosed off.
Or would it be better to just put down pine shavings and trying to do the deep litter method.
The space will be quite large, about 10x8 or so, and will just house 5 bantam hens, so I was thinking it could handle the waste with that small an area....that even without litter, I could just shovel it out and use it for manure tea.
OR, should I just leave the pebbles in, then I could just shovel them out, hose them off for the manure tea, and that way, some of the waste would filter away from the birds?

 

[speckledhen]

Chickens prefer light, in my experience. If they are always in the dark, you won't get many eggs.

And you'll need to be sure that no predator can tunnel into your dirt floor, so think about that when making your decision. There are many ways to do this, not one right way, but in all of them, you just need to be aware that predators are all over, even if you don't see them, and they will work all night to get into your coop.