Bottomless coop?

[vasher]

Upcoming chicken owner near Seattle, so 40s-70s (F) most of the year with occasional drops into low 30s and high 80s.

My plan is to keep 3 chickens (mostly) permanently in a covered pen (4x8) with a raised coop (4x4, 2ft off the ground) as I enjoy having a non-poop landmine backyard, and I can't guarantee that I'll leave late enough or get back from work early enough everyday to put them away safely before raccoons try to eat them.

My question is: Would I need to put a floor on the coop, or could I leave it bottomless with a landing perch at the door, a couple raised roosts inside, and a nest box? Plan is to use straw litter after they de-foliate the inside of the run, so waste would just fall to the run bedding to be turned over/shoveled out and composted/deep littered/etc. (pro!).

Potential cons:

Chickens sometimes don't want to sit on perches and would not enjoy having to sit on the run floor
Chickens would have trouble getting to roosts/nest box without being able to hop up from coop floor (not sure how well they can fly in a 4x4 coop or if they need more 'runway' area)
Chickens will get cold feet without floor to insulate (possibly?)

Genius idea? Terrible idea? Try it and get back to us?

 

[OrganicFarmWife]

You want to build the coop over the run? The run having a deep litter.
That would work just fine but you would do better building them ramps, then making them fly. Some breeds can do it, but they might find it tricky and push each other off. Ramps would easily solve that problem

 

[vasher]

Yeah, imagining something similar to this design with a bit more elevation beneath the coop for access below:



A ramp is a good idea, thank you.

 

[OrganicFarmWife]

It should work just fine for you. But spend the money on hardware cloth (raccoons can get through chicken wire easily) and bury the hardware cloth at least 6 inches down along the run to prevent dining under. Do not worry about being to cold as long as they can stay dry, they will be plenty warm.