What Flooring for Coop??

[GreenEggsNSpam]

We get our Chicken Coop delivered tomorrow morning and I am so excited! It is a beautiful, well made, solid wood 12' x 8 ' mini barn with loft and two windows for cross ventilation, and they added a chicken door and perches for the chickens (we decided we'll add our own nesting boxes when the times comes).

The only thing is the floor. I know it will be sturdy wood and beautiful, but the question is do we leave the floor bare wood or put some kind of flooring down over it, like vinyl or linoleum? Of course, we'll be using litter, too, probably a mix of sand and wood shavings. But what is everyone's opinion on what to do with the floor beneath the bedding??

My eight girls (possibly one guy) are just about four weeks old and growing fast. I'd like to start getting them out in the coop at least during daylight hours to get them used to it. We'll start building the run this coming week.

Thanks for your thoughts!

 

[chynasparks]

Congratulations on your new coop. We built ours, I would have loved the barn style but I'm happy with ours. Anyway, covering the floor with some kind of flooring would make cleanup easier. Also consider making a poop board. I have mine filled with sand and pines shavings around it in the nest house area. I have sand in my run. Also have sweet PDZ and DE mixed in. My coop an run are all enclosed because I can't let my girls free range. Making a moveable run for them to get them out into the grass. Good luck on your coop and new flock

 

[GreenEggsNSpam]

Congratulations on your new coop. We built ours, I would have loved the barn style but I'm happy with ours. Anyway, covering the floor with some kind of flooring would make cleanup easier. Also consider making a poop board. I have mine filled with sand and pines shavings around it in the nest house area. I have sand in my run. Also have sweet PDZ and DE mixed in. My coop an run are all enclosed because I can't let my girls free range. Making a moveable run for them to get them out into the grass. Good luck on your coop and new flock

Thank you, chynasparks!

We were going to build ours from scratch, then decided we'd get a shed kit and modify it, then decided 'what the heck' and spent the big bucks for a really nice hand crafted Coop, made by a small family run business who only builds barns, sheds, and gazebos. There stuff is Amish built quality. I'm really happy (and lucky) my husband got this for me. We weren't going to at first because of the money, but compared to a lot of other ready-made or kit chicken coops out there this is an incredible bargain.

We totally intend to add Sweet PDZ to our sand and shaved pine mix for bedding. But what is DE?? And we actually have considered a poop board. In retrospect, I probably could of had them put in a basic removable board on a shelf below the perch, but didn't think about it. Should be easy to do, though.

My husband wants to put linoleum down, but I just want to be sure it's the right option, which is why I'm asking everyone here!

 

[chynasparks]

DE is Diatomaceous Earth. If you haven't heard of it, it's a product that kills bugs and stuff. Make sure you get the food grade. They can it, it won't hurt them. Google it to read up. Add it to dust bath, helps control mites on the birds. Can sprinkle some in the bottom of nest boxes, well, you get the idea. The main thing is get the food grade. It's safe and effective. It sounds like you got a great coop. My husband worked his buns off building this coop. We spent about $700. It's very sturdy.

 

[JackE]

I used a rubberized roof coat product I got from Lowes (Blackjack #57). Unlike vinyl or linoleum, this stuff becomes a permanent part of the floor. It totally seals all floor board joints, along with the gap where the walls meet the floor. Vinyl and linoleum are not made for a coop environment. I've read on this forum where the chickens shredded a linoleum covered floor. Moisture can get trapped under a vinyl or linoleum floor and do unseen damage through tears or other holes.
I've had this stuff down on the floor of my coop for over three years, and it looks as good as the day I put it in there. If it can handle sealing and protecting a roof, through all kinds of weather seen throughout the four seasons, protecting a coop's floor is nothing to it. If you want the best floor treatment for a coop, this is it.
Jack

 

[imadick]

When I was young and dumb, (now I'm old and still dumb) My father raised chickens. The coop was 50X12X8 and housed bunches of chickens. The coop had a wooden floor that was raised about 18 inches off the ground.
Two to three times a year, "I" would have to go to the coop with HOE in hand and scrape the "chicken @#$#@" from the flooring. Most of the time this @#$%$# would be 3-4 inches thick but was easily removed. The wood flooring never rotted. I don't know why maybe it was the air circulation. Good luck in your chicken raising and let them roam. It will keep the bug population down

 

[JackE]

When I was young and dumb, (now I'm old and still dumb) My father raised chickens. The coop was 50X12X8 and housed bunches of chickens. The coop had a wooden floor that was raised about 18 inches off the ground.
Two to three times a year, "I" would have to go to the coop with HOE in hand and scrape the "chicken @#$#@" from the flooring. Most of the time this @#$%$# would be 3-4 inches thick but was easily removed. The wood flooring never rotted. I don't know why maybe it was the air circulation. Good luck in your chicken raising and let them roam. It will keep the bug population down

That was probably a wood plank floor made from 2Xwhatever lumber. Not a particleboard or plywood floor a lot of people have today. These floors can use a little help.
Jack

 

[bdjh]

This is our first year with chickens, and when I built the coop, I just glued down a cheap chunk of linoleum I picked up from a flooring store for $10. It had a small rip in it, so they couldn't use it.

The good thing is that poop doesn't stick to it like it does to wood. Their roosting bars are covered in poo, and it's like it's glued on there with crazy glue. Cleanout takes about 3 minutes reaching in with a hoe and just pulling back the dirty straw bedding out the door and straight down into a wheelbarrow.

Seems to be working well so far.

 

[Biologrady]

We cut a piece of sheet vinyl from Lowes to fit the floor, but we didn't glue it down...this lets us pull up the edges and dump the whole thing into a wheel barrow placed outside the coop door ( about once a season do we refresh the whole thing). It has protected the floor from spilled waterers, but you do need to pay attention if you get a wet spot under the floor. I considered the roofing stuff that we used under the shingles, but it had a really tarry chemical smell in warm weather that I didn't think I could live with... So take a good sniff first if you check out that material.

 

[GreenEggsNSpam]

We cut a piece of sheet vinyl from Lowes to fit the floor, but we didn't glue it down...this lets us pull up the edges and dump the whole thing into a wheel barrow placed outside the coop door ( about once a season do we refresh the whole thing). It has protected the floor from spilled waterers, but you do need to pay attention if you get a wet spot under the floor. I considered the roofing stuff that we used under the shingles, but it had a really tarry chemical smell in warm weather that I didn't think I could live with... So take a good sniff first if you check out that material.

I really do like this idea. I might go this route and get vinyl instead of linoleum tiles. The fact that you can easily take it up is nice.

I'm not overly worried about water spills since I will be hanging the chickens water from a chain attached to the loft. So any spillage should be minimal and not close to the edges.

Thanks for the great idea!