Is this at all possible?

[Bettacreek]

So, I found a new spot in the house... It's concrete floors, concrete walls and a wooden door, electricity is there, but this is an unheated addition they put on. The door opens to the outside, no inside access. Anyways, what I'm wondering is... How hard would it be to keep this thing clean? Can I use pine shavings in there and keep all of the birds in there, instead of building a coop? It's HUGE! I'd obviously have to figure out roosting areas, but really, if I can keep this thing clean, it'd be perfect! Nothing is going to come through that door, short of possibly a bear, but hell, he'd be hard pressed to get in there, and I'd have plenty of time to get the gun out. So, whatcha think? Is it possible, with shavings or something, to keep it clean?

 

[BarredBuff]

If you kept it clean, probably. But the smell has the possibility of taking you down.

 

[TanksHill]

I was thinking it might make a better storm shelter/food storage room.

Is there any ventilation at all?

g

 

[Bettacreek]

I guess there isn't much ventilation, but is big enough that it shouldn't be too big of a problem for just over-nighting and bad storms. As for food storage, we've already got one of those rooms... This house is old and has a LOT of cool stuff, and a lot of random rooms. Upstairs alone, we have three massive bedrooms, large bathroom, five closets (one being a walk in, the others just standard, large closets) a loft area and a small bedroom (I call it the half-room, because it's half the size of the other rooms (they're really that big). The basement has the main portion and two rooms... One being the "pantry" (or will be when I have enough food to put in it) and this is the other room, though it's not exactly connected to the basement.

This room is the room that they put in under the porch. The top is all wood. Basically, it's like a regular basement type build.

 

[BarredBuff]

Gina has a point, it'd be a better storage room. Maybe cleaning supplies, paper towells, etc.

 

[Bettacreek]

No way... Lol. For real, we have so much room here that we couldn't possibly use this room for much of anything else. When I moved in here, only two closets, one room and the bathroom were in use. We now have the three larger rooms and three closets in use. In the basement, there's just so much room it's unreal. Plus, we have a two bay garage (that's where most of the stuff is at, and why there is so much unused space in the basement.

 

[BarredBuff]

Then I suppose you could make it a coop My garage is a barn

 

[rhoda_bruce]

Have you read "Possum Living". I forgot who wrote it.
Well, they had chickens and rabbits in their basement, but I think they did have a basement window. They used the litter/poop/whatever in their garden. I found it a very interesting read. It did give them an extra chore or two, but it kept their animals safe and pretty much top secret.....it was a win-win situation all around from what I read.
Check it out, if you have Kindle or something. From what you have described, I would think you could pull it off. And if it don't work, you can always have a BBQ.

 

[Bettacreek]

Lol. I plan to have a BBQ! I was planning on building a coop for everything, but this is huge, and I could actually raise more birds this way (thinking like 50+ cornish x instead of just 25). If I use shavings, I'm sure I could keep the cement clean, however, I wonder how often I'd have to change out the bedding to prevent stinkage. It's not a huge issue, because we've got some kinda funk that befalls the land a lot, smelling like a dead animal, however, I'd LIKE to not have them have to be enclosed in a stinky area, or get a mouthful of it anytime I went in to collect eggs or whatever.

ETA: Does that book come in softcover hardcopy? It sounds just like the type of book I'd read! Unfortunately, I'm super picky about them being softcover, and unfortunately, no kindle.

 

[Bettacreek]

Nevermind, bought one on ebay.