Tiling the baby chick area

[squibbs]

I use the back of my outhouse - a space about 3m by 3m to raise my chicks - usually 2 groups about 4 weeks apart for the first 4-6 weeks or so.

Cleaning is always a pain in the bum and I was wondering about tiling the floor and walls up to about a metre creating something like a wet room I suppose - but cleaning would be a lot easier than the irregular surfaces and walls I have to deal with at the moment

Has anyone done anything similar - are there any drawbacks (the tiles would be covered in a suitable layer of bedding) ?

I'd be interested in everyones views

Thanks

[Suechooks]

I use my former "dog shed" for chicks and have floor and wall tiles just as you describe. I have no trouble cleaning! I use an electric hen inside a circle of corrugated plastic for the first couple of weeks to keep draught free, then move into a dog crate with heat lamp suspended over them. I partition off part of the shed using MDF boards and increase "run" size gradually, adding mesh panels so it gradually hardens them off.
In the early days I have a piece of old carpet covered in thick plastic then newspaper and a piece of non-slip stuff under the electric hen. After few days add some shavings and after a week just have them on newspaper and shavings. Once they are confident on their feet I just use shavings.
The tiled floor is really great and I've just added a thick layer of shavings which I've just cleaned as necessary and mopped as required. Go for it!

[squibbs]

Thanks - thats good to know - I had been using a home made wooden frame with wire mesh for separation placed diagonally across - but its a pain to shift about. I was thinking of a breeze block partition in the middle extending about half way in. Then using MDF or maybe some pallet wood a door on either side which will effectively give me 3 areas which on removal of one or both doors converts to 2 areas or one large area.

The whole baby area is behind a mesh wall which runs the height of the outhouse and there is a mesh covered large door (which was an old pallet) for me to get in and out.