Anyone have wire bottom to coop?

[twinkids*tripletchicks]

So, in reading about cocci prevention/treatment I saw it recommended that coops have wire bottoms so that chickens aren't in contact with poop. I was wondering if we should modify our coop and if they would really be happy on wire). I can't wire the entire yard area where they will be when they come out of the coop, so is there any point? Also, if anyone has pictures of a coop built this way, I would love to see them. Thanks.

 

[SunnyCalifornia]

I did a section under their roost with wire, as that is where they poop the most when inside the coop. The other areas inside are solid, as I don't think they "like" walking on the wire.

 

[spotstealer]

I wired the floor of my brooder, which worked really nice (I made it in sections so I could take them out to clean underneath). My main coop is linoleum covered floor.

 

[jcatblum]

I have a wire floor in my small chicken tractor. I live in a hot climate & did the wire floor to help w air flow. During the winter I cover it in hay. During summer no hay except nest boxes. Works well for my chicks. I did this when I lived in town. We are on 20 acres now, none of my other coops are like this. I have went to cattle panel hoop style coops. Love them. Can walk in & take care of everything. Move them a few times a wk & cost half the price of the coop we built in town & has so much more space!

 

[bywaterdog]

My coop has only a solid roof, everything else is wire. The climate here is very hot and humid, it very seldom does it go below freezing in the winter. This year we might have had 15 hours below 32 and then none less than 28 degrees fahrenheit.
The flock is comprised of big girls- Buff Orps. and Barred Rocks, the heat is what I worry about with them.

My coop is 4' off of the ground and the poop for the most part does fall through, The floor has to be hosed down about 3X per week to prevent "build ups." My girls cannot go under the coop so it is used as a composting area for my gardens. The nest boxes are lined with shredded paper that I change out once a week, with the used paper
being spread out over the droppings.
The wire works well for me, as the hardware cloth is strong enough to hold up to 8-9lb Buff's jumping down from their roosting boards without pulling loose.

Carbon (shredded paper)+Nitrogen(poop)+heat (free)+water( floor cleaning)= good fast compost.

 

[elmo]

Unless the openings in the wire are very large ( in which case you've got a real "reach through" predation problem, plus the risk of chickens getting their feet bitten off by predators), I think you'd find that a lot of poop gets caught on the wire and becomes a real nasty clean up mess. The other problem with a wire floor is that it's hard on chicken feet and tends to create the conditions for bumblefoot infections.

Chickens build up natural immunities to cocci in a typical backyard setup. If you're housing your birds in overcrowded conditions like commercial poultry housing it might make sense to use a wire floor to deal with the buildup of cocci in such a setup, but otherwise I would think, no.