Home Improvement → [Flooring] Need something to cover OSB in Chicken Coop

I will be re-purposing a section of garden shed into a chicken coop. OSB is not ideal for the situation, but that's what's there. I am trying to find the best budget material to lay over the OSB for easy clean out and to protect the wood from damage. The coop will have wood chips on the floor. For clean up, the wood chips (and chicken shit, etc) will be brushed out a door into an awaiting container. It will also have small amounts of drinking water for the birds in there at times, so protection from water damage is desired. The floor will be roughly 8' by 3'.

I'd like to cover the floor, and if possible go a few inches up the walls. The key word here is budget. Trying to stay as inexpensive as possible. Any ideas?

Thick Plastic Sheets

Formica sheets??

This may be a little slick for a floor but that probably wouldn't be a problem in your situation. I've used it on walls before and it is extremely durable.

»www.homedepot.com/p/Unbr ··· 00389836

6 mil Visqueen... black or translucent. Nothing thinner than 6 mil though. Or rubber garage matting. For the size area you want to cover, you'll have plenty to wrap it up the side walls several inches, and just staple it in place along the edge. It's available in rolls or sheets. It's a little pricey, but it's pretty tough.

Check with a local flooring store to see if they have any scrap linoleum that would fit the bill. You can probably get a piece to fit that is scrap for under $50

2nd for FRP.

In the 80s we had a raised chicken coop and a separate pigeon coop also setting on concrete blocks with OSB construction.

We poured left over simi gloss paint on floor and rolled it out.
Put 2-3 coats down, don't really remember but we burned up a bunch of old paint.

Sold the place roughly 10 years later and all was still well

Too bad you don't live closer. I have like 40-45 feet of 10' wide 6 mil plastic sheeting left over from one of my projects I doubt I'll ever use again.

Thanks for the ideas, everyone. I like the scrap linoleum idea. It woulod last the life of the coop. If I can get it very cheap it might be the way to go.

You could use spray rubber as seen on TV. :P

What you need to ask for is not "scraps", but roll ends or "over-orders". They'll nearly always tell you they have no "scraps". It's been my experience that so-called scraps get left with the original customer after installation.

Linoleum is good. Heavier duty version if available. Slick version is easier to clean out and has less potential to catch and tear when you are cleaning out...

OSB sucks for EVERYTHING, including its intended purpose, whatever that is...
I detest OSB, can you tell?
It is supposed to be covered and it is cheap...
I just see too many instances where it is left exposed and it doesn't fare well.

We have 5 re-purposed doghouses and such that we use for chickens. We just got most of them through Craigslist for her experiment of breeding several versions of purebred chickens. They have varying levels of insulation and various levels of ventilation and windows that we have added for light.

3 of these enclosures have multiple combinations of OSB or particle board on the floors or walls and roof underlay. They have had NO special application of paint or anything on them. A lot is swelling and bowing and buckling and falling apart. I won't build anything with OSB or particle board if I have any other choice.

1 of these enclosures is a doghouse that was built with plywood and painted inside and out, walls and floor. It is holding up well except for a hinged roof that wasn't designed well and is coming loose. The shingles make it awful heavy to tilt up.

1 of the enclosures was one that my wife built with some inputs from me. It is plywood inside and out and not painted. It is still pretty good after ~3 years. The floor is plywood with linoleum over it. It seemed like a good idea. The linoleum that she got is OK, it just seems a little tender. We didn't glue it down, just stapled the edges. There are some areas that have gotten ripped and start to peel up. We have been just stapling the edges back down and it is still pretty much OK.

If I were to do again, I would glue the linoleum a little bit.

They are already pets at this point, so you can scratch fried chicken off the menu. . .

Yeah, that was the plan anyway. Eggs and pets. This hybrid breed (Isa Brown) is a prolific egg layer and arguably the friendliest around. And they are not heavy bodied, very little meat on them anyway.

Nuggets!

I'll be glad when chicken and other meats can be grown in labs without having to create then kill life.

Anyway, check out black tar paper or tarps or plastic/metal roof panels.

Our chickens are not for meat.

I think we're a long ways off from Star Trek food replicators.

That maybe, but I remember hearing about synthetic beef being created.

»www.theguardian.com/scie ··· em-cells

»www.theguardian.com/scie ··· at-video

They are in the infancy of that but even if they were ready for FDA testing that's another decade of testing. At best we're 15-20 years out on that. They have to make it as cheap or cheaper then normal meat as well. So far it's just the world's most expensive meat ever!

Not to mention people accepting the new meat. Consumer concerns will take another decade after it's FDA certified to get any significant market penetration.

I remember an episode of SeaQuest DSV where one crewman smuggled beef aboard to make a old fashioned hamburger because killing animals for food had been banned and replaced by synthetic meat.

It probably will be the norm in 100 years or so.

They're really going to have to sell me on that stuff. I don't even like GMO food. Don't know if I would enjoy eating completely unnatural food for than I already do. And I don't care what people say, it is fake, unnatural food.

I'm curious -- what does GMO food taste like to you?

"Don't like" as in I don't like the idea of it. I like natural foods, organics, free range, local, etc. Especially if I know exactly where they come from. I'm not a food hippy, mind you. I still do eat fast food and products made with GMO. I just prefer not to if possible.

Our chickens won't eat the corn out of one brand of feed.
We suspect that it is GMO. I have heard that some animals can tell.
We asked the supplier if it was GMO and they said they had no way of knowing. (or wouldn't tell if they could?)

What's wrong with stuff like this?

Here's an artist rendition of a lab grown chicken that consists of up to 50 wings on the body, with celery spliced in, and they produce Blue Cheese dressing as a waste by product.