Plywood Floor?

[sovia]

I have plywood in my coop. We did coat it with polyurethane or something like that. Anyhow, we keep it covered with pine shavings. When we cleaned out the coop last spring, we were impressed with how good the floor looked. There were no stains or wet spots and that is with twenty chickens!

 

[team_realtree]

Is a clear coat of wood sealer on the plywood going to do any harm as they scratch and peck around?

 

[mdbokc]

Or just use a couple of coats of good primer on top of the final floor boards. The main thing is you want to seal the top of the floor from moisture. Pine shavings on top of that. They won't try to tear up your coating if you have enough shavings in there. When they hit the hard surface, they are pretty much done and start scooping out the depression they want to lay in...thus the shavings provide that material.

 

[azygous]

Quote:
Careful you specify pine shavings and not cedar shavings. Cedar is toxic to chickens. I get my pine shavings from the local feed store for $5 cubic foot, compressed into a sealed bale - comes from Canada.

By the way, I can't recommend linoleum floor covering highly enough. I got some cheap scraps, pieced it together and glued it down with silicon sealer. So easy to keep clean and sanitary.

 

[team_realtree]

Quote:
I meant would putting a clear coat of wood sealer down be toxic as they peck and scratch.

 

[team_realtree]

Does anyone know??? What I am going to try to do based on the opinions you guys have provided is reinforce my floor with a another sheet of plywood running the opposite way of the one that is in place now, and use pine shavings. Obviously some moisture will still get on the plywood so does anyone know if wood sealer will kill them?

 

[Coopa Cabana]

I don't have any sealer on mine, and I don't have problems with a wet floor, either. I prefer the larger aspen shavings over the pine bedding, which is a smaller cut. The larger shavings don't matte down as much - just keep them turned frequently.
If you use a sealer, I would make sure it is 100% non-toxic. You might try searching the coop constructions for floor sealers and see what people are using.

 

[Chieftain]

I'm going somewhat renegade, and built the floor of my 4x5 coop out of 1/2" hardi-backer concrete board. I put up a baseboard made of hardibacker siding, sealed the edges and am going to paint it with a 2 part epoxy garage floor paint. It should last for at least 100 years. The floor should be pretty much invulnerable to anything a chicken can produce.

I plan on using a deep litter in the coop, and a poop board that is sloped toward the cleanout door (details to follow this week...).

 

[upthecreek]

What did you use to seal the concrete boards where they meet each other ? I've used the concrete boards in our kenel for flooring and for deviders, i used a mortar type mix where the boards met . It's good stuff and fire proof , they are using it in building homes now .
Thanks ,(wondering what you used)
Shannon


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[patandchickens]

Wait, could you clarify what the support system is for the floor? How many cinderblocks is it up on, placed where? If it has none in the middle (just at corners or edges) then you need more than just another sheet of plywood; if you have lots and lots of them all across the middle you may not need anything more than you've already got, although rats might be a concern.

As far as the original question goes, plywood is a fine flooring with shavings (or whatever) put onto it. I would suggest painting or polyurethaning the plywood as it makes it EVER so much easier to clean -- and sometimes the chickens WILL scratch bare spots in the bedding which will then allow the plywood to get directly pooed-upon, so cleaning really IS an issue. But if you do that, it makes a plenty good floor.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat