posted on Apr, 15 2013 @ 12:45 PM
Regardless of what design you use; if you are going to have a large flock of hens in a larger coop I recommend that you add a slight slope to the
floor boards (10-15 degrees) and cover it with a scrap piece of linoleum or some impermeable material with a drain at the lowest point so that you can
power wash the inside as the walls and cracks inside will become caked in # in short order. This and the water spillage along with poo will make the
boards rot rather quickly.
I learned this the hard way after putting in a wood floor and it all but rotted out after just 2.5 years from all the decomp and bedding saturation.
As for nesting boxes I also learned that wood is a poor material as it rots after having to be sanitized. So I built shelves and on those shelves sit
plastic Tidy Cat ™ litter containers (the large ones that hold 35lbs) they can be removed and power washed over and over without rotting. The
plastic keeps in the hens heat in the winter and with a small layer of spare hay/bedding they nest in them fine. It didn't take me long to
accumulate 64 of them form my set-up. I put an ad in the local swap shop offering .25c for each container. People throw them away mostly so its
win-win.