New to chickens! Converting dog house to chicken coop Q!

[ReillyJ]

We have a large dog house that i finally cleaned all the car parts and junk out of and it has 2 attached runs with a fiberglass roof.
The floor of the runs is cement, should i cover it with sand? How would i keep it clean? I plan on free ranging the 4 hens that i have during the day and cooping them up at night. Wow am i on a huge learning curve here!!

The attached pic shows one side of the run cleaned out, still have to clean the other side, in the meantime we will just close off that door to the run and we still have to build nest boxes!
Thanks for any help!

 

[Stiggy]

lino.... lino is your friend. put lino on the bottom/ a little up the sides. add wood shavings to the bottom, and turn every few days and remove and replace every week or fortnight ( depending on how dirty the make it)

 

[jetdog]

Sand will be your best friend, very easy to clean with a cat litter scoop and won't be a muddy mess. I would put a removable board across the door way to keep the shavings in when you open the door, as stiggy said a cheap piece of vinyl will make your life easier when cleaning. If you go with sand put 2x6's as a boarder to hold the sand in they will love dusting in it.

 

[ReillyJ]

Ok, thank you

So it sounds like i'll use sand in the run part that has a concrete floor and in the actual dog house, it has a wood floor and sounds like linoleum on top of it is my best bet and then it will be pine shavings over it on the floor? Or can i just use pine shavings on top of the wood?

 

[Stiggy]

Just remember to regularly check under the Lino for mites as they will like it there.a good spray works well to get rid of them

 

[Michael OShay]

Ok, thank you

So it sounds like i'll use sand in the run part that has a concrete floor and in the actual dog house, it has a wood floor and sounds like linoleum on top of it is my best bet and then it will be pine shavings over it on the floor? Or can i just use pine shavings on top of the wood?

If you use sand, do not use fine sand like playground sand or beach sand as it has been known to impact a chicken's crop. Instead use a coarse river sand with various sized pebbles in it. I think a fine pea gravel is even better and use it in my runs.