the floor of the coop

[Gifa]

Beautiful! Well done! Do you think the wood pellets are easier to sift through than conventional pine shavings? When the water is added, and they fluff up, do they feel just like pine shavings? I know the wood pellets break down for compost far quicker than shavings, so that is one perk. I am considering going to this for my horse stalls when I set up my compost for that.

Just a bit of a suggestion on the stall dry bin. I set up the same thing for my chicks with Stall PDZ and DE. They hated it,, never used it. I had a container with my fireplace ashes that I was going to put out in the compost pile, and wouldn't you know it ,, they dove in there and were dusting up a storm. If you have any plain wood ashes from a fireplace or wood stove, switch it out to the bin,, worth a try before you take it out in March.

Nice setup!
MB

If your pine shavings are fine enough to fall through a 1/4" mesh, then sure, it should work just as easily. The only thing I might add to that, is that I've read a lot of people on this forum talk about how dusty pine shavings are. I don't seem to have a lot of problems with dustiness, and I am not sure exactly why. It could be that the hardwood pellets are heavier than pine, and thus, settle faster... it could be that my girls just do not spend an inordinate amount of time in their coop during the day (because their main sources for water, feed and entertainment are out in the run)... It could also be that I only have a couple/few inches of bedding down in a 5.5' x 5.5' space... It could be that even though the humidity in the coop at night stays between 45% and 55%, as soon as that door opens in the morning, it rises to 60%-65%, making the very top layer of their bedding even heavier and less prone to becoming airborne (this is part of why I churn up the bedding at the end)... My coop might be ventilated such that any dustiness there is, doesn't linger. It could also be that their definition of "dusty" is different than mine. Literally the only time I see dust, is right after I shake the bedding through the screen... it's dusty for all of a minute...

My only other experience with pine shavings were the big shavings I used in their brooder box... One $5 bag of that stuff cured me from ever considering that stuff again... it was hard to clean, it takes forever to compost (in fact, the stuff I set out last summer STILL hasn't finished composting), they do ok absorbing moisture, but not as well as the finer shavings, and once a chicken unloads a cecal poo on it... there's no cleaning that and after a certain point, you have to change out the bedding even if 75% of the bedding is still clean, so I felt it was wasteful.

I also tried using the hardwood pellets in pellet form thinking that I would just allow them to break down naturally... the problem was that it was really hard to keep clean because I couldn't separate the bedding from the pooh. Pellets fall through a 1/2" screen... but so does pooh... and because Poo shrinks and breaks up as it dries, eventually what you have is a mix of half broken down pellets and dried up poo... a little smellier (not bad though), a little dustier (poo dust?) and a lot harder to maintain. So, spending a couple of days preparing the pellets by breaking them down with water and letting them dry out over a couple of days was the way to go.


Re: the dustbin... They really just like rolling around in the dry dirt under the coop... I don't have any wood ash on hand on a regular basis We do have a small fire bowl on our patio, but we haven't used it in very much in the last year because of our drought conditions. I do have a bag of DE, and I am considering just adding DE to the dirt under there and letting them keep doing what they are doing. After all that talk about dust and air quality in the coop, I am not even sure I want them to dust themselves inside the coop. I have until March to figure things out.

 

[Melabella]

If your pine shavings are fine enough to fall through a 1/4" mesh, then sure, it should work just as easily. The only thing I might add to that, is that I've read a lot of people on this forum talk about how dusty pine shavings are. I don't seem to have a lot of problems with dustiness, and I am not sure exactly why. It could be that the hardwood pellets are heavier than pine, and thus, settle faster... it could be that my girls just do not spend an inordinate amount of time in their coop during the day (because their main sources for water, feed and entertainment are out in the run)... It could also be that I only have a couple/few inches of bedding down in a 5.5' x 5.5' space... It could be that even though the humidity in the coop at night stays between 45% and 55%, as soon as that door opens in the morning, it rises to 60%-65%, making the very top layer of their bedding even heavier and less prone to becoming airborne (this is part of why I churn up the bedding at the end)... My coop might be ventilated such that any dustiness there is, doesn't linger. It could also be that their definition of "dusty" is different than mine. Literally the only time I see dust, is right after I shake the bedding through the screen... it's dusty for all of a minute...

My only other experience with pine shavings were the big shavings I used in their brooder box... One $5 bag of that stuff cured me from ever considering that stuff again... it was hard to clean, it takes forever to compost (in fact, the stuff I set out last summer STILL hasn't finished composting), they do ok absorbing moisture, but not as well as the finer shavings, and once a chicken unloads a cecal poo on it... there's no cleaning that and after a certain point, you have to change out the bedding even if 75% of the bedding is still clean, so I felt it was wasteful.

I also tried using the hardwood pellets in pellet form thinking that I would just allow them to break down naturally... the problem was that it was really hard to keep clean because I couldn't separate the bedding from the pooh. Pellets fall through a 1/2" screen... but so does pooh... and because Poo shrinks and breaks up as it dries, eventually what you have is a mix of half broken down pellets and dried up poo... a little smellier (not bad though), a little dustier (poo dust?) and a lot harder to maintain. So, spending a couple of days preparing the pellets by breaking them down with water and letting them dry out over a couple of days was the way to go.


Re: the dustbin... They really just like rolling around in the dry dirt under the coop... I don't have any wood ash on hand on a regular basis We do have a small fire bowl on our patio, but we haven't used it in very much in the last year because of our drought conditions. I do have a bag of DE, and I am considering just adding DE to the dirt under there and letting them keep doing what they are doing. After all that talk about dust and air quality in the coop, I am not even sure I want them to dust themselves inside the coop. I have until March to figure things out.

I was thinking that as well, not having it in the coop at all, but didn't want to sound like I was being pushy. We all do things our own way. My coop is raised up on legs, and I just dump the ash unnder the coop periodically. They love it. Thank you for the information. I can't wait until I change to the pellet bedding for the horses. The compost company says that is the only way to go to get turnover in 60 days. I'm excited.. With 200lbs of horse manure here a day, I will have beautiful compost in no time!

Cheers,
MB

 

[Gifa]

I was thinking that as well, not having it in the coop at all, but didn't want to sound like I was being pushy. We all do things our own way. My coop is raised up on legs, and I just dump the ash unnder the coop periodically. They love it. Thank you for the information. I can't wait until I change to the pellet bedding for the horses. The compost company says that is the only way to go to get turnover in 60 days. I'm excited.. With 200lbs of horse manure here a day, I will have beautiful compost in no time!

Cheers,
MB

I am jealous of your compost making capability... No... I am jealous of your ability to own horses... ok, a little jealous of your compost...

Though, in just under 6 months, between my 7 chickens, my kitchen waste, and the fall leaves, I was able to generate a whole, steaming cubic meter of it.

 

[Kaitie09]

I have a plywood floor, and then I stapled down on of those big rubber mats on top. I have the ridges parallel with the walls, so All I have to do it sweep everything out the door. They are easy enough to replace too. I find it really easy to sweep out. My other coop have linoleum on it and I have found that since it has been down (3yrs it has worn out and some of the sides are popping up.

Here is a photo of the type of mat:

 

[treasuregr]

Gifa,
I thought that your sifter is parked under the roost. Until I read you screen poops during cleanup. Would it save you an extra step, to park the screen under the roost?
Kind of like the cat litterboxes with a screen.
Thanks for sharing, I'm gathering ideas for my soon to be coop.

 

[Gifa]

Gifa,
I thought that your sifter is parked under the roost. Until I read you screen poops during cleanup. Would it save you an extra step, to park the screen under the roost?
Kind of like the cat litterboxes with a screen.
Thanks for sharing, I'm gathering ideas for my soon to be coop.

It might, but I worry about the girls jumping down and hurting themselves on it.

 

[Dragonsfly2]

and if you use plywood, make sure you are using "Plywood" and not 'particle board'
particle board is made up of tons of small pieces glued together, and over time and with the inevitable moisture the bond breaks down, and then you have a rotting floor.
Plywood is the flat layers of full sheet made into one large 4 x 8 or bigger, and is really easy to shovel off if needed to, and holds up to tons of time before you need to even worry about possibly replacing the floor.
Good litter maintenance on any floor will make the job easier and smell less.
And the hens like the 'scratch' factor if they actually get down to floor level.
vinyl tile can be slippery and might not be as good for hen feet in the long run?
They do like to be able to grip as they walk.
Our coop was 9 x 12 and 8 yrs after, we only had to replace one upper small vent window as the glass got smashed when a branch flew down into it.
The floor was top notch and doing just fine.
(even with ducks in the coop too)

Good luck
Just offering my few cents worth too.

Jenny

 

[bigbob7777]

Howdy,

I am just finishing my coop (hopefully photos soon). I have linoleum over OSB plywood. How thick do you put the pellets? My coop is 6 x 8. And you say you spray them with water; then let them dry? Then sift them through 1/4" screen daily? Is this correct?

bob

 

[chickbythebay]

Just getting started here, and trying to research as much as possible before starting.  My coop doesn't have a floor.  It goes straight to earth.   Do I need to install a floor.  I thought they would like the dirt.  The coop is movable, so i was planning to move periodically, and keep a good layer of bedding down in the winter. There will be a run as well (when finished) and a perimeter fence.  The run will be floorless.

We also have a moveable coop or "chicken tractor" that does not have a floor. One night something dug under and killed two birds. So we built a portion inside that is enclosed with a floor that they sleep in at night. I let them out in the morning and we are still able to move the coop around as needed, usually every 2-3 days.

 

[Gifa]

Howdy,

I am just finishing my coop (hopefully photos soon). I have linoleum over OSB plywood. How thick do you put the pellets? My coop is 6 x 8. And you say you spray them with water; then let them dry? Then sift them through 1/4" screen daily? Is this correct?

bob

I only have 2-3 inches down. My 6X6 only takes 2-3 bags worth of the fuel pellets. I do all of the soaking to break up the pellets using a wheelbarrow, the 1/4" hardware cloth screen, a tub and a 5 gallon bucket. After it's processed and has had a chance to dry (it takes a couple of days if you do it the lazy way, I am sure if you really put a lot of effort into it, you could get it done in a few hours...), I can put it in the coop, and yes, I sift daily after that.

I like to sift every morning when I am going out to collect eggs between 8 and 9 am. I find that it makes the job easier, faster and more thorough if I can get out there while the poo is still sitting on top of the bedding under their roost. If you wait until the evening to take care of it, the chickens will have had all day to walk through it, stomp it in, and kick it around, breaking up the poo into smaller pieces and making it a bigger job for you to clean. Also, when it's fresh like that, it hasn't had a chance to really dry out and shrink up to a nth it's original size... so getting out there in the morning produces a more discriminating sift and thus cleaner bedding.