What do your buildings have for flooring?

[Poultry Run Farm]

We are putting up a 16' x 30' building for the birds for their winter housing and to keep some breeders. Have been doing lots of research and talked with lots of others in our club that have birds. Have seen a couple of places that say cement is not the best way to go for the health of the birds, but thought it would be easier to clean. Would love to here your thoughts on what has worked.

 

[B'villechicken]

I know I've seen posts here that says concrete or other hard surfaces are bad for chickens but I don't know if there are any data that supports that. Many of us use the deep litter method and our birds never see much of the floor. A large building like yours would be difficult to put into deep litter cost wise. I have pressure treated plywood. I see no reason (unless some of my more experienced fellow posters have other opinions) you could not use concrete. Good luck.

David

 

[Happy Chooks]

My coop is raised off the ground, so I have plywood. I put linoleum over the plywood to make it easier to clean.

 

[chickee]

I'm with new2chooks

I have linoleum on plywood in both my chicken houses and it works great!

Holds up and cleans up really well, but my chicken houses are smaller than what you are putting up.

 

[BankerJohn]

I have a 6" bed of 1/4" screened rock, topped with landscape fabric, then topped with another 3-4 inches of sand. Fabric keeps gravity from pulling sand into the rock and filling the voids. My floor is BONE dry. Sand provides an endless supply of grit and allows the birds to 'dust' themselves. Poo is very easy to clean up (think rake and kitty litter scoop). No smells, no moisture to hold bacteria/disease. NO regrets on my decision to do it this way. Here is a pic before the landscape cloth and sand:

 

[equusvilla]

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This is what we chose to do as well.. I had left over linoleum from a former project..

 

[Poultry Run Farm]

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My hubby and I were just talking about that exact same thing last night, didn't see why it wouldn't work just as well. Will have to check out how expensive that would be on a building that size

 

[Poultry Run Farm]

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That is cool... Those would make great summer pens for them here. Also love the bucket feeder

 

[Mattemma]

I have a cement floor.

 

[Intheswamp]

If you can afford it and the litter to keep it covered with, then cement would be my choice.

Cement is stable, vermin proof (no digging), easy to clean/pressure-wash/sanitize and disinfect, not as likely to flood/get muddy (as dirt floor), can be designed for a small tractor w/bucket to help with clean-outs, reinforce the concrete when built and the building can be re-purposed for many other uses if needed,...

Best wishes,
Ed