What is the best flooring to use in the coop??

[chickybae]

My coop gets super nasty real quick. I have tried pine shavings, hay, and sand. None seem to work well at all. The flooring is plywood. Should I remove it and let the coop have a dirt floor mixed with sand? What works best for y'all??

 

[limited25]

How big is your coop and how many chickens do you have?

Is the plywood painted (I would paint it), add PDZ, and just some shavings. The painted floor (we used KILZ Complete) keeps anything from absorbing into the plywood and easier for cleaning. The PDZ dries up the poo making it easy to scrape out with a putty knife (I throw poo into a bucket). I use less shavings during the summer with all the heat, but do put it in the nesting boxes, and some under their roost.

A poop board under their roost would help a lot (again, sprinkle it with PDZ).

 

[Catkins500]

Hi, I've got three girls as I'm new to chicken keeping. My coop is in a covered run and I use hemp in both the coop and on the earth floor of the run. It is really absorbent so keeps my girls clean and fresh smelling. I use diatomaeous earth puffed inside the coop and sprinkled on the run floor and clean the poop out of the coop every day. So far I've not had any odour issues either during a very wet spring or during the recent hot weather. Hope this helps.