What do you suggest I use?

[rstampa]

I am building a new coop this fall and I was going to use a plywood floor covered with pond liner. However, I'm not sure if I should cover the liner with tile. If it's not too expensive. But the most important question I have is. Should I leave it bare or put shavings down too. I live in Florida so I'm not too worried about the cold. I want it to be simple and I'm looking for the easiest way to keep it clean.

Thanks for any suggestion or experience you may have.

 

[CityChook]

I have a plywood floor and I painted it with exterior latex. Make sure you prime first. I use deep litter. Very little poo makes it to the floor, but when it does, it cleans up like a charm!

 

[mandelyn]

Any flooring you use will still need a layer of bedding, unless you want to hose it out, or scrape poo. Tile would need grout, which could be more difficult to clean. A piece of linoleum glued down would be easier to clean, and cheaper.

Pine shavings in a thin layer would make cleaning easier, keep the smell fresh, and they're cheap.

 

[MIKE555444]

Deep litter works great and is very healthy for the chickens

 

[ksct]

Def No Matter What Kind Of Flooring, Use A Bedding! We Have One Hen That When We Didn't Have Enough Bedding Down Or If They Kicked It Away Hated Jumping Down From The Roost. She Would Wait For Everyone Else To Leave And Then Sometimes She'd 'let' Us Pick Her Up And Put Her Down.
I Agree, Deep Litter Is The Best Sooooo Much Less Smell And Less Clean Up Really.

 

[patandchickens]

Why the pond liner? You don't need or want that. Either prime and semigloss-exterior-paint your plywood, or if you will not be hosing it down then you can staplegun vinyl flooring on it if you really want. Honestly, painted-primed plywood works fine, as long as you keep shavings on it.

You should experiment with different approaches (more or less bedding, etc) and see what you like, but because poo can weld itself on REAL TIGHTLY even to vinyl flooring, you will probably end up wanting to have at least some bedding on the floor.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[rstampa]

Thank you all for your advise. I've decided to go with the plywood floor and primer it with a couple coats. I'm using pine shavings now so I will continue using it in the new coop. I really like using it. It's a lot easier to clean up with out all the poop sticking to the floor. No pond liner either!

However I'm not clear on the benefits of using the deep litter method. Doesn't it smell after awhile? I clean my coop out every week and it looks like mold on the poop.
Any advice on the deep litter method?
You are all such nice people. Thanks again.

 

[gkeesling]

I got some linoleum remnants and put that over the plywood on my coop floor. Then I put pine shavings on top of that, and add as needed. I clean my coop every couple of months (that's when it starts to smell). I just scoop and sweep the pine shavings out, put them in my wheel barrow and dump in my compost pile. Pretty slick and doesn't take much time to clean at all.

 

[sbarab]

The floor of my coop is 2 x6s and I use an old tarp as a liner and add shavings on top. I clean the coop every couple of months. Just grab the corners of the tarp and bundle it all up into a sack and then dump it into my compost. Works well.

 

[rstampa]

Quote:
How much and how often do you top the shavings off? Also I don't have any linoleum remnants and Home Depot is too expensive. I don't want to put that much money into a chicken coop. If you know what I mean.