Beginner

[joseleon]

Hello everyone. Been doing alot of research on raising my own chickens for eggs and to teach my kids a good value in life. I live in Chandler AZ and honestly the only predator they will have is my dog which I'll will put in the front yard. I can build my own coop and all but I was wondering since I have a nice sized grass area, could I just have the coop sit on the glass and be the floor plan for the chickens? If it matters I hope to let them wonder in my backyard as they wish. Any help is appreciated.

 

[PapaChaz]

lots of people everywhere have a coop with no enclosed run and let their chickens free range. Yes it can be done quite easily

 

[joseleon]

Great! Once me and my family actually start I will be on here more often, but being able to let the coop be on the ground makes me think it's going to be alot easier to clean and less smell. Not to mention the poop is good for the grass

 

[PapaChaz]

I'm going to name a couple of names, look up their coop pages:

Blooie and beekissed...........

now both of these ladies do have an enclosed run, but, they also utilize their run very well. Beekissed has an excellent video on how to set up and maintain the coop/run with the deep litter method to keep the smell down.

Another is RonP, great info on 'cold composting' in his setup, which I guess is a form of deep litter method.

These will help tremendously, if you'll use what you can learn from these fine folks, you won't have any problems with smell

 

[Egghead_Jr]

If I read the OP correctly the intent is to have no floor for the coop. I don't recommend that at all. I'm not a native of AZ but can't think of anywhere in the continental USA where your not going to have a predator dig into your coop at night for a snack.

To go without a run is not as unsafe as going without a floor in coop. Your biggest daytime attack is going to be neighborhood dogs. Then comes hawks. Dogs will kill many just for the fun of kill. Night predators are very common which is why I close the coop door every night and all openings for venting are covered with hard wire. You have weasels in AZ and they can fit in small areas, dig easy and will kill multiple if not all your birds in one night.

 

[jetdog]

I would build a floor as the grass will be gone in a matter of weeks. Chickens are the masters of grass destruction.