Building new coop - floor or no floor? And other suggestions please!

[rockinD]

Hi Everyone!

I've been lurking but this is my first post. I'm in the planning stages of a new coop. My DH and I are not carpenters by any stretch but managed to make our first coop and run . Now that we've identified things (major things) we would have done differently, we're planning coop #2.

This coop will be 8'x10' with a peaked roof (corrugated asphalt panels). In the main frame/wall areas, the top 4' of the back/West wall (8' wide) will be sided as will the first and top 4' of the North and South sides (so it wraps). This will be the roost area inside. The remainder of the sides will be hardwire cloth except for the door. We live in Texas and it's hot hot so we need plenty of air flow.

I originally planned on partially sinking cinder blocks around the perimeter as the base and then having the coop built on top of the cinder blocks (we'll have a hardwire cloth skirt buried for predators). The original plan doesn't have a wood floor, using instead our natural ground. My question is, is this okay, or should I have a wood floor (like a storage building)? Does an installed floor add to the stability of the structure? I know it adds to the weight and I'm wondering if I need the extra weight in our area.

We do get the occasional hurricane/tropical storm that comes through, and even though we're about 100 miles from the coast, the winds are strong enough to take down large trees, power lines, etc. Hurricane Ike that came through a few years ago took off one of our barn roofs that had been standing for better than 50 years.

So considering that, floor or no floor? Special anchors? Any suggestions? Also, anything you "wish" you would have done in your coop or that you would do differently if you could do it again? I want this to be our last coop lol so I want to do it right! Thanks

 

[AceOfSpadesJJ]

well if you dont want pests have the coop off the floor i just made some wooden legs and put it on them!

 

[PeepsAreForMe]

well if you dont want pests have the coop off the floor i just made some wooden legs and put it on them!

I agree. I have no suggestions but have some ideas that we will be doing differently in our second coop: Make it easy for you to clean! I think we all think about the comfort of our chickens and not ourselves! I will be able to walk into the secured part of our new coop, and the new coop will be high enough so I don't have to bend down to clean anything. Lots of ventilation, but you have that covered. I think that's all I have for now.

 

[rockinD]

Ha! I hear you on that one! I can access the coop easily in our current set up, but the attached run is 3' high. Unless I want to crawl around on hands and knees to do anything, I enlist the help of the kids They've become quite proficient in chicken herding. This one will have 8' side walls so accessing all of it standing up won't be a problem. It will eventually lead to another run that will also enable us to walk upright into. Our girls get a few hours of free ranging in the evenings as well.

The roosting area which will have it's own "floor" will be 4' above the ground. I'm curious about the floor of the whole building. Wood floor or natural?

 

[PeepsAreForMe]

I would go with natural floor, not wood. We are going to cover the bottom with hardware cloth (my DH doesn't want to dig down around the perimeter. With the natural, I would think whatever you use on the floor will decompose better. Plus your girls may still be able to dig for worms through the wire.