Dirt is, of course, the original coop floor. These days, many people are interested in using the Deep Litter Method in their coops, and that method works only with a dirt floor. You need to have well-draining soil and a coop design that will keep out predators, including burrowing predators, as well as rodents. If the coop is not on a site with excellent drainage, there will be too much moisture accumulation. This will be harmful to your birds’ health, and will make it impossible to successfully use the Deep Litter Method.

Be very sure your coop is located in a place that won’t flood. Keep in mind that, with our changing weather patterns, some areas are seeing flood conditions where they never have before.

Plywood is a low-cost, easy to clean option. It will keep predators and rodents out. Over time, it will rot. My coop that has a plywood floor has one section that is just starting to rot, and one section that is becoming degraded, making it difficult to clean. The floor is 14 years old, and I live in a medium-to-low moisture climate. Depending on your climate, your floor may last longer. It is important that the plywood not sit directly on the ground. Painting the floor will help further protect it from rotting.

Do not substitute particle board for plywood in an attempt to save money. Particle board soaks up moisture and won’t last long in the coop environment. Moisture from droppings will soon cause the boards to begin to disintegrate. In addition, particle board is made from wood chips and glue. If birds peck at it, or if it begins to disintegrate, your guineas will be ingesting toxins from the glue.

Linoleum is durable and easy to clean. The quality of linoleum varies; good-quality linoleum can be expensive. Self-stick linoleum won’t last very long in a coop. The tiles don’t stay stuck. As they get pulled up, the glue becomes a dirt-magnet, and the birds love to pick at the pulled-up corners. It’s best to use screws or a staple gun when securing linoleum, rather than glue. Whatever you do, don’t get vinyl flooring, as it often contains materials that are toxic to poultry.

Concrete is the most expensive, but also the most desirable coop flooring. It is long-lasting, easy to clean, rodent and predator proof, and moisture resistant. One of my coops has a concrete floor, and I wish they all did. Concrete is cold in the winter, but good deep bedding will solve that problem.

Once your flooring is decided, you’ll need to consider bedding materials. As mentioned earlier, guineas need a good, deep bedding layer to help protect their feet and legs from landing injuries.

There are probably dozens of bedding options that somewhere, someone who seems to be an authority on the subject is recommending. I have personally experimented with many of the options, and I have my own opinions on what works well. Below are listed the good and the less desirable points for some of the popular types of beddings in use across the country.

Besides cushioning landings, the main job of the bedding is to both absorb and to release moisture. It has to absorb moisture so that the droppings will dry out. And the bedding material must also release moisture so that it doesn’t become a wet, moldy, bacteria-laden mess. Many bedding materials do one or the other very well, but few do a good job of both.

Pine Shavings might be the most popular material used in poultry coops. Only large-flake shavings should be used; small-flake shavings are too dusty and can contribute to poultry respiratory problems. It is fairly absorbent, relatively inexpensive, easy to clean, highly compostable. However, recent studies indicate that pine shavings may be toxic to your birds. The toxicity comes not from human-added chemical or treatments, but from the pine itself. These studies have only recently received widespread attention, so this is new information to a lot of people, and there are a lot of die-hard fans of pine shavings for their chicken coops.

Never use cedar shavings in your coop; it is highly toxic to poultry. Never use sawdust; the fine particles are really bad for the birds’ delicate respiratory systems. Any toxic properties of the wood (pine, cedar, etc.) are going to be magnified when it’s reduced to sawdust.

Mulch works similarly to pine shavings in being absorbable, cheap, and easy to clean. However, mulch contains a lot of moisture and has a tendency to mold, so it should not be used in the coop.

Straw bedding has many benefits. It is cheap, or free if you grown your own. It has low moisture content and low dust levels. It is lightweight, easy to change, and can be readily composted or even used directly on your gardens.

Straw repels moisture, but it does not easily release moisture. As a practical matter, this means that, as droppings accumulate, straw will quickly become moisture-laden and moldy, and will need frequent cleaning or replacement, much more often than other bedding choices. Another drawback is that rodents and insects love straw. As moisture accumulates in the straw, so will the flies in your coop.

Do not confuse hay with straw. Hay is grain that is harvested and bundled, intended for animal feed. Straw is the plant stalk after the seed heads are removed. Hay should never be used for livestock bedding because it retains moisture and molds easily.

Pine straw, or dry pine needles, shares many of the same properties with straw, and in some parts of the country it is very inexpensive, or even free. As with straw, you’ll need to change it frequently because it is not as absorbent as other bedding options.

Straw is an also a pretty good choice for those using the Deep Little Method. More on that later.

Hemp bedding is a newcomer on the scene, and reviews are mixed. I have used industrial hemp bedding. It is low-dust and very absorbent. It is lightweight, very easy to clean and replace, and composts readily. It is not widely available yet (as of this writing, it is still illegal in some states) and it is very expensive compared with other bedding materials. Although it is touted as needing replacement less often than other types of bedding, that has not been my experience. For me, it lasts only slightly longer than pine shavings.

Sand is quickly becoming the most-recommended bedding/litter material for poultry. It is important to use the right type of sand.

Do not use play sand or beach sand. These are very fine-grained and can cause a number of problems for your guineas, including impacted crops from ingesting the fine sand particles (think about how well wet sand can be sculpted into sturdy sand castles; the same kind of moistening and compacting occurs in your birds’ crops). Fine-particle sand also causes respiratory problems, as it is very dusty. Finally, those fine silica crystals damage the respiratory tract and lungs, leading to a painful death.

You want sand that is medium-to-large grain, and which contains various sizes of grains of sand. Such a mixture goes by many names, including construction sand, mortar sand and river sand. It is available in bulk from construction companies and from landscape materials companies.

Of all the bedding materials listed, sand comes closest to what poultry uses in nature. Sand absorbs moisture and odors, but doesn’t retain moisture, meaning that sand doesn’t foster growth of mold and bacteria. And that also makes it less attractive to flies.

Sand doesn’t break down. It is an inhospitable environment for parasites such as coccidia and worms. If you live in an area with clay soil, you know how the mud sticks to your birds’ feet during wet periods. Sand will naturally clean their feet, resulting in cleaner birds and cleaner eggs.

Sand in the coop is a good source of grit, and it’s good for dust-bathing. Even if your birds are free-ranging during the day, they often hang out in the coop during bad weather, and will dust-bathe in whatever bedding is in the coop. Of all the beddings listed, sand is the best dust-bathing material for them.

Sand bedding helps insulate the coop, keeping it cooler in summer and warmer in winter. Because it absorbs moisture and dries quickly, sand bedding reduces the risk of frostbite.

Sand can be easily cleaned using a cat-litter type scoop or a mud-shovel (a shovel with holes in the blade). If you clean it every day, you can go a long time before replacing it. Many people spread their used sand out for the sun to dry, and then re-use it in their coops.

So, what’s not to like about sand? It can be expensive, initially (the sand itself is not very expensive, but you’ll likely need to have it delivered, which can cost $100 or more). Sand is heavy. It’s a real chore to shovel that sand into your coop. Sand is not compostable. The right kind of sand may be hard to find. If you keep a waterer in your coop, or if your coop is leaky or prone to wet spots, sand may not be a good choice. Sand that is constantly wet is prone to freezing, clumping, and getting hard.

The Deep Litter Method

Deep Litter, or Deep Bedding, is a poultry-keeping method that has been gaining popularity in the past decade. It is a way to compost bedding within the coop.

Among the reasons for its increasing popularity: You don’t have to clean the coop, if the litter is properly managed. It adds warmth to the coop, which is great if you live in a cold climate. The poultry will do some of the composting work for you by adding their droppings and by stirring up the litter. Some of the bugs that help the composting process along – beetles, ants – will provide food for your birds and will encourage them to scratch in the bedding.

To successfully use this bedding method, your coop needs a bare dirt floor. The microorganisms from the soil will work their way up into the bedding and begin the composting process. Moisture from the soil and from the droppings will support the microorganisms.

Like all composting processes, the Deep Litter Method requires carbon (from the bedding material); oxygen (from the turning and aeration); ventilation, and proper moisture levels. It cannot get sopping wet, or the composting process will turn from something rich and earthy-smelling into a nasty, rotting mess. The bedding needs to be turned daily – by you if the poultry aren’t doing a good enough job. You will also need to keep adding bedding as the material composts.

Depending on how deep you want to let the bedding get, you will eventually have to remove it and start over. Most recommendations are to remove the bedding yearly. You’ll want to leave a couple of inches of composted material as a starter for the next batch of bedding.

Your coop must be situated in a spot that doesn’t flood, and you need well-draining soil. Clay soil tends to pool standing water after even a little rain, so that would not be suitable for this bedding method. Too much moisture will stop the composting process and allow for mold and bacteria to develop, putting your birds’ health at risk. Guineas do not have the body fat or downy feathers that other poultry possess, so they have a hard time retaining body heat if their feathers get wet. And moisture in the winter increases the chance for frostbite. Don’t’ leave a waterer in the coop. Even the leaked or splashed-out water will create a wet spot that will affect the composting process.

You will also have to take precautions to keep rodents and burrowing predators out of your coop. The best practice is to bury flashing or hardware cloth (galvanized wire) around the perimeter of your coop. Never leave feed in your coop, as it attracts predators, rodents and insects.

Do not use any material that is prone to mold – such as hay, leaf litter, grass clippings. Most people use large-flake pine shavings as the bedding material. If you smell even a slight ammonia scent, something is wrong, usually too much moisture. Remove the wet sections and start again. Remember, your birds are even more susceptible to ammonia irritation of their mucous membranes than you are, and they are closer to the ground. If you can detect ammonia, they are suffering from it.

Last, don’t use Diatomaceous Earth or lime in your coop if you employ the Deep Litter Method. Both are drying agents and will kill the microorganisms needed to make the composting process function.

The Deep Litter Method seems like an attractive, easy way to manage your coop bedding, but it’s easy for things to go wrong. A little too much moisture, a few days without turning, not enough ventilation, an overturned waterer, not enough moisture – all these can interrupt or crater the composting process and quickly lead to health problems for your guineas. If you’re not already good at composting, or suspect that you won’t be able to properly manage this system, you may be better off sticking to more traditional bedding choices for your coop.