Question re Dirt floor Inside Coop

[Billpk1]

Quote:
I would put in sand but honestly I can't see how that will make it easy to use the old bedding and droppings in the compost and garden. What do you do with the sand when you clean the coop?

 

[Amigatec]

I have a dirt floor as well. I placed the hardware cloth over the top and covered it with wood shavings. Hey it works for me

 

[kcsunshine]

You don't carry the sand out, you scoop out the poop. A kitty litter scoop works well. Or just rake it all around and the sand dries out the poo and it disappears.

 

[~*Sweet Cheeks*~]

My chickens are in a Noble horse shelter that was put together on a layer of pea gravel 8-10" deep over clay. 1" stall mats put over the pea gravel.

When I sold the horses and covered the event front bars with hardware cloth to covert to chicken coop, I just layered lots of left over saw dust with wood pellets, white shavings and DE and/or stall dry.

About once a month I again layer white shavings, wood pellets and DE. Every couple days, I sprinkle a little stall dry under the roost.

In a year and a half, I haven't cleaned anything out. It remains black and fluffy once the new shavings and wood pellets get scratched around.

I didn't put any apron of hardware cloth around the bottom of the coop. The framing is large steel tubing with 3/4" plywood cut to fit the framing.

 

[UGAchick]

I would not put hardwire cloth on top of the dirt. They like to scratch and poke around in the dirt, and the cloth would prevent that. Also, poop and other junk coats the wire pretty quickly and it would be much more difficult to clean.

 

[PepsNick]

I'd just keep the dirt floor. But make sure that there's no holes that predators can get through on the ground.

 

[darkmatter]

Quote:
My coop was purpose built with a sub-ground level dirt floor to accommodate the deep litter method. (See my BYC page) It has been performing as planned for over 15 years. Healthy for the chickens and easy maintenance for the owner with lots of compost fertilizer for the garden. I'm of a utilitarian mind with synergy of effort intended.

 

[7L Farm]

I think at our farm at sometime back it was actually the beach even though I'm roughly a 100 miles from the Gulf Of Mexico. The farm is sand . I built the coop & run right on top of the sand & it works well no mud after a rain & it drys out quick. Also easy to maintain. But it does make for easy digging so I have hot wire around the coop & run. I usually turn on the hot wire at nite & unplug during the day. But I'm always at the farm so during the day I keep an eye on them.