Best floor for coop?

[LasMochickens]

Hi all. I am starting to design my new coop. My question is what is the best try of floor? Should it be dirt, wood, or concreet? I'm not sure if I should poor a slab, build a subfloor, or make a footing and just build on top of it. Any thought or help would be great. If it makes a difference it does not snow were I'm at but we do get alot of rain.

 

[Bonniejean83]

I'm new as well, and have started my planning for my coop. I'm going to be using concrete pavers around the outside edges, (my coop will have an attached run), that the bottom framing (using treated lumber) will sit on, and using construction sand in the run. The whole thing will have a roof over it, to keep the sand dry when it rains or snows. After quite a lot of research that seemed to be my best options, but hopefully someone with more experience can help you out too!

 

[LasMochickens]

I was thinking about making a footing out of cinder blocks. Burring them in the ground and building on top of them. That would give me a 8" tall and 8" wide barrier against any preditors digging under the coop. It would take any animal quite a bit of time to dig 12" plus down and over to get into the coop. That would give me time to catch them.

 

[Dingleberry]

I would do it raised with dirt/sand for the floor. I use shavings but I have heard sand is easily cleanable. if it rains their like it does here, proper drainage is a must.

 

[ARose4Heaven]

A raised coop is best. It allows you a place to put food and water out of the weather, and outside the coop. My main henhouse has hardware cloth buried around the perimeter. The nest area is a raised wood deck, the roosting area is dirt. But then, mine is a large reclaimed building. You have the advantage of starting from scratch.

If you are in an area that does not get extremely cold in winter, sand is the best thing, over a painted wood floor.