A coop built with the floor made of hardware cloth? Dh wants to do it like that......

[countrycakelady]

We are hoping and I mean HOPING to start working on our girls new permanent home soon.....between bad weather and his job requiring him to go on shutdown for 10 hours a day, 5 days a week....sigh.....

Dh wants to do their floor with hardware cloth, we got a huge roll of it, expensive! :/ I am not sure about this...can I get some input? We have figured out everything else...I was thinking of a wood floor with some sort of covering or just plain plywood., it will sit above the ground, so they can go underneath for safety and coolness in warmer weather......first time chicken parents here! Thanks for any ideas and input...

 

[Judy]

You can make good use of the hardware cloth by building a coop or enclosure that is breezy and comforable for them in the heat, a sort of half open air encosure. They will not be very comfortable walking on hardware cloth. I'm not sure what the point would be. A rim of hardware cloth outside their area will keep predators out. Poop will not fall through hardware cloth, it will stick and need to be scrubbed off.

A convenient coop foor is made of something easy to clean. A good coat of a gloss paint over plywood works well. Some vinyl flooring over a wood floor also works well. Plain unfinished plywood will be a mess in short order, and will absorb odor.

Here are some very practical living quarters ideas for our climate:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/163417/please-show-me-your-hot-weather-coops/0_20

 

[countrycakelady]

Thank you flockwatcher! This helps me a lot.....a newbie at this...but enjoying it!

 

[countrycakelady]

I forgot to add in my original post that their coop will be built and placed in an old dog pen, it's huge, with a sturdy chain link fence and a full size door...huge trees beside it, for lots of shade.....will be covering the top with something for a roof to hopefully keep out predators....dh's hunting beagles are about 70 foot away in very tightly secured pens, they bark at everything, so I can only hope that will help also. This pen gets lots of shade and sunshine....it's located in the perfect spot........

 

[CHICKEN INDY]

Quote:
Make sure to line hardware cloth around the lower portion of the chainlink fence (Ground to 24" high is sufficent) to keep the chickens from stiking their heads though the fence and also to prevent preditors from grabbing them through the fence.

 

[countrycakelady]

Thanks chickenindy...I had already thought of that! I dream of doing it all the very best way I can.....

 

[andibob]

We just lost four 8 week olds to a raccoon. We had our coop and pen covered in 1" poultry netting including the top and bottom. A raccoon (we know because it was stalking the cage the next morning) tore a hole in the poultry netting/wire and massacred my babies! It was a horrible scene to wake up to. We now reinforced the entire coop and pen (5x5x5) with hardware cloth. Well worth the $$$ because they can't rip it open or stick their nasty little hands through to steal my chickens. Should have went with hardware cloth the first time but we were trying to build in a "cost-effective" manner. Sad loss and a tough lesson. Try, try again! Avoid poultry netting at all costs!!! NOT WORTH IT!

 

[cnj-tx50]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/image/id/5

My floor is a metal grate 3 sheets that we got a local recycle center. My coop is 2 feet off of the ground and in the winter months I enclose around it with haybales to block the wind. But in the summer with temps over 100 most days for over 2 months it helps to have the coop with air that will circulate.

 

[myronette]

We have hardware cloth on the bottom of our run and it's worked out well. We started with straw in there (over the hardware cloth), but recently changed out to sand. The sand is working out well and the raccoons can't get in. The coop/run have never smelled and we haven't needed to clean it yet (they've been in there a couple months). They also free range all day, so the mess is usually on my porch (seriously, why do they have to choose my porch of all places to hang out and poop all day??!).