What to do for a floor?

[finnleyjo]

Work is starting on new coop this week. We are actually going to scavenge, I mean recycle, some wood from my ILs tonight.

But we can't decide what to do for the floor of the coop. We have mostly ruled out dirt, because we live in a fairly rainy climate, and I don't think we would be able to keep it dry. My DH is talking a bout doing a cement slab. I want to do wood with some cheap vinyl flooring on top.

My objection to doing cement is that we wouldn't be able to move the coop if we choose to relocate them to another part of the property. But dh is afraid that the wood will rot.

So, any ideas to help end our stalemate? Oh, and I would like to do the DLM if that makes any difference.

 

[standardbanty]

If you decide to keep it in one place definitly do cement. But if you want to move it, you should keep the floor directly off the dirt to prevent rotting. Raise it 4 inches or so. And put vyinil on top of wood.

 

[purecountrychicken]

I have a wood floor for my coop with vinyl flooring over it and it has been a very nice floor so far. But a wood floor or a cement floor are very good options so you wont go wrong either way ya go. Add up the cost of materials for both ways and see wich way is cheaper and decide that way. good luck

 

[Omran]

Concrete is always the best floor, spend some extra $$ nowand you will love it, make sure you put drain in the middle for wash out.

 

[OKbirdwatcher]

Just Hatched, We're newbies and have just had our chickens a few days, so it remains to be seen how our idea will work out long term.

We put a wood floor in our coop and covered it with heavy clear plastic, the kind you would use for a drop cloth or cover windows with.

The plan is to be able to gather it up and carry all the mess outside and dispose of it, then rinse and air dry the plastic and put it back down, keeping the wood floor clean and dry. If it needs to be replaced periodically, it won't cost much.

 

[finnleyjo]

Quote:
Well, so far our cost of materials is nothing

. It looks like we will be able to scavenge all we need from my ILs (including some decent siding)...unless my DH decides to buy some 2x4s. So right now the only cost would be the concrete or vinyl floor.

My DH had also mentioned pouring the concrete on top of the wood floor to make it less permanent...but I'm not exactly sure how that would work.

 

[tankernav1]

Our coop is almost finished and we put it on a concrete slab that we have outside our barn. I'm a bit confused though because I don't know what to put down on top of it? Do we put the wood chips down on the concrete. There is a drain right outside the coop where we could wash "stuff" too but I'm not sure it is a good idea for a bunch of wood chips to go there. It eventually goes to a creek and lake. And when we start giving them scraps to scratch around in do those just go on top of whatever bedding is there? I was planning on putting pine shavings in the actual henhouse which is raised off the ground. But I figured we would just keep adding shavings and then a couple of times a year clean it out. Advice?

 

[CityChook]

I have a plywood floor, but we built the framing up upon a base of landscape blocks. That way the floor is up off the ground and dry. I couldn't find any vinyl that I was willing to spend money on, so I simply painted the floor with primer and exterior semi-gloss. If you do deep litter, you'll never see the floor anyways.

 

[MoonbeamQueen]

We used plywood for our subfloor and used a vinyl flooring remnant that I found at a local flooring/carpet store. I told them what size I was looking for, color and pattern did not matter. What else are they going to do with such a small amount? Seems like I got my scrap for $10-$15. Haggled just a little bit. It was worth it for me. We use several inches of pine shavings over that. And it's really easy to rake it all out for cleaning now and then.

 

[tankernav1]

That's a good idea about the vinyl remnant. I'm thinking I should put that up in the henhouse. Then on the concrete floor on "the first level" maybe I will use straw. I suppose the vinyl flooring is much easier to clean than just having the shavings directly on the wood floor. Do they slip on it though?