What to do with this nasty floor?!

[enola]

DE would kill a lot of the bugs need to speed up composition. If you have any ammonia problems, you need to find out where the moisture is coming from. One possible source is your water supply. If possible, put the waterer in the run. Ventilation is VERY important, this can not be stressed strongly enough. Ventilation will remove a lot of moisture from your coop.

Poop boards are not necessary with deep bedding. But that is a personal call.

 

[MESOFRUFFEH]

I agree completely with what @henless said regarding the bedding. I use the deep litter method (or I'm trying to) and it works great so far. I use mostly organic materials - grass clippings, leaves, sticks, pine straw, hay, feathers, etc. Basically the purpose of the deep litter is for it to compost everything for you. When the chicken poop mixes with the organic materials, it starts to compost. It does need to be slightly moist on the bottom layer, which will be perfect for you with that floor. You want to flip at least the area under the roost like a pancake every couple days so that the feces get mixed in with the litter. I've heard of people not ever having to clean their coop for three to five years and when they did, the material was perfect compost that they used in their gardens. If you try this, throw some scratch onto the litter in the coop every once and awhile and the birds will scratch it and turn it for you.

My coop isn't very pretty either. My dad helped me build it out of plywood, 2 by 4s, and pallets. It's completely ventillated (open on all 4 sides) because of the pallets. In the winter, I have pieces of plywood with foam insulation that fits perfectly into the frames that were put on the pallets when it was built. Here is the first photo of the coop, but we have made adjustments since then such as cutting plywood to size to cover the door and make it more secure.

As you can see, it's not too pretty. I have since made some adjustments to make it more appealing to the eye. On the door, I have a hung a decoration that is made out of wood on the door. It was painted red and has a silhouette of a hen on it. There is also a hook on it because it's original purpose was a coat rack. I bought that for 5 bucks from Gordmans. Inside is a wooden photo with a picture of a rooster and an egg that says, "The rooster crows but the hen delivers"; $4 from Gordman's. I also have another decoration that still needs to be hung. It is a red wooden silhouette of a rooster with words such as "Welcome", "Laugh Often", "Sit Long", "Talk Much", etc. I'm planning to put this inside the coop, directly above the pop door so it's the first thing you see upon entering the coop; $5 at Gordman's. You can find hen/rooster/egg themed things at any decoration at department store because it has become a common theme for kitchens recently. I also have a container inside the coop filled with grit. It's blue and is also hen themed. It's original purpose was to be a cookie jar. I also got that at Gordman's for a whopping $3. If you have a Gordman's near you, I strongly suggest going there for coop decor. It's super cheap and they have so many cute decorations, they even have signs that say "Welcome to the Coop" or "Fresh Eggs Daily" but they happened to be too big to fit on the door of my coop so I passed on those.

First off, I think your coop is adorable!! A coat of paint and it would be even more adorable! Mine just looks so trashy to me lol. I think that is what I might do to mine next year, give it a fresh coat of paint and see if I can't frame around the door and the window. And you pretty much answered all of my questions that I had about the deep litter lol. That really was my thinking when I put all of that hay and the shavings in the coop, was that they would just sort of decompose eventually, really all it sounds like I need to do is to add more litter to the floor!! I have a bunch of grass clippings that I think I will haul down there tonight and toss on the floor. And there are PLENTY of leaves I could rake up and use as well. I might also go get some hay too because it smells so fresh. I think most of my floor has compacted and everything is just dusty now since it has been so dry. I think a new layer is all I need to rejuvenate everything, I remember how nice it was when we put the hay and shavings down earlier this year and now it just feels so nasty.

And unfortunately I don't have a Gordman's but we do have a dollar store that usually carries a lot of little cute things like that, I will have to go shopping!!

 

[MESOFRUFFEH]

DE would kill a lot of the bugs need to speed up composition. If you have any ammonia problems, you need to find out where the moisture is coming from. One possible source is your water supply. If possible, put the waterer in the run. Ventilation is VERY important, this can not be stressed strongly enough. Ventilation will remove a lot of moisture from your coop.

Poop boards are not necessary with deep bedding. But that is a personal call.

I currently don't really have any sort of odor in the coop, other than just dirt lol. I just wasn't sure if that would be a future issue. I use a bucket with poultry nipples inside the coop for both the big chickens and the chicks that are now in a cage in the coop as well. I hate having to deal with dirty water. I think the only moisture I would have would be from the bottom of the floor due to rain coming in under the wall. I don't think I will go the poop board route lol, I will let the chickens mix it up by throwing some scratch in there.

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone!! I think I will try the deep litter method, I did not realize that it was that easy and I had already essentially started it! Learn something new every day!

 

[RedDol]

I use straw. I have heard that nothing eats straw so it doesn't attract bugs. But don't your chickens eat bugs? My "coop" is just chain link right now with roosts and nesting boxes and a roof. I'll have to add something for the winter I'm sure.

 

[donrae]

I agree to fix the drainage problem first. I've not been able to use it in my coops or pens yet, but in our horse paddock we brought in a few loads of decomposed granite and it fixed our mud problem quite nicely. If you could strip the bedding down to the bare floor, bring in a load of decomposed granite or whatever local product you have that would be similar, I think you'd be a good step ahead to fixing some drainage, simply because the interior of the coop would be higher than the outside.

After that, go deep litter all the way.

 

[NatureChica]

In the times when people used straw in their mattresses they encountered all sorts of bug problems so please keep that in mind.
Also, my straw bedding I used back in the day has serious soggy issues. I got sick of changing it out regularly...it was a soggy,heavy pain. It works for some but not for all. I wanted something drier, more low maintenance.

 

[aart]

Quote: I kinda figured that was the case, but keep observing and playing with it and you may be able to eventually divert the worst of it.
Deep litter would work good to 'build the floor back up'. Just keep your litter content varied in size, shape and materials to get a healthy mix going.

Linoleum over the wood helps keep things from absorbing into the wood. Much easier clean out.

@NatureChica If you read the thread carefully you will see that the floor is shot and the flooding really precludes replacing it.

 

[Mtn Laurel]

I'm really envious of your dirt floor! Would love to have one in my coop as I do deep litter but the lay of our land didn't allow for it. That being said, I'm not envious of your flooding problem. I've had that situation before and it's not fun.

Fix your flooding issue first. We used sandbags against our tractor that was flooding and that is a great beginning as it at least keeps the water out. For a permanent fix you'll probably need to dig a drainage ditch or do something similar. You can get empty sandbags at a store like Home Depot and then buy the sand and fill them yourself.

Once your flooding issue is resolved, my thought would be to next predator proof the coop with an apron of hardware cloth or something similar to prevent predators from digging in. The prettiest coop in the world isn't worth a flat nickle if your birds get eaten.

Finally, I'd go with deep litter as deep litter and dirt floored coops are a marriage made in chicken heaven! Keep adding organic material to what's in there, anything you can get your hands on. Straw, pine shavings, mulch, sawdust, leaves, leaves, did I mention leaves?, shredded paper, peat moss, etc. The crawly critters and microbes in the soil will work with the poo and the litter to create the most beautiful compost you've ever seen. The chickens love it as the deep litter brings bugs from the soil and they get a little snack. There is no odor with property done deep litter and - should you smell something - that's your signal to add more organic matter.

Word of caution - if you go with deep litter, do not get DE - Diatomaceous Earth - anywhere near the coop. The DE will kill the bugs, critters, microbes that are necessary for deep litter to break down and you'll be left with a fetid, stinking mess. Same thing goes for any pesticide. You need and want those critters for Deep Litter to work.

Best of luck with your coop and enjoy your chickens.

 

[NatureChica]

I'm on my second coop. Learned from the first flash build. First one had a chip board floor. big mistake. It will fall apart very quickly. Second coop has a plywood floor painted with waterproof paint. After the first couple of weeks of raising 100 meat chickens in the coop the stench was really bad. The first clean out we had to work hard to clean all the crud off the floor but the stench remained. The remedy I used was vinegar in a spray bottle wit a 1/4 cup of Dawn dish soap added. The stench was completely gone and the next clean out was a breeze. From now on I will use the vinegar/dish soap solution after every clean out

My comment was in reference to this comment made by @spoikey

I kinda figured that was the case, but keep observing and playing with it and you may be able to eventually divert the worst of it.
Deep litter would work good to 'build the floor back up'. Just keep your litter content varied in size, shape and materials to get a healthy mix going.

@NatureChica
 If you read the thread carefully you will see that the floor is shot and the flooding really precludes replacing it.

 

[aart]

Quote: Ahh, sorry, that wasn't clear as you didn't quote them, thought it was aimed at the OP.