Building new coop, need advise on my climate range

[Deputy Chicken]

I have a large coop inside the barn, covered with an open bottom.

I am building a new coop to go in outside run, for the fully feathered youngsters.

My question is, I live in North Texas and the absolute coldest it gets here typically is upper teens to low twenties. However most of winter is in the 30-50s.

Do I need a floored coop or can I keep the bottom open??

 

[yogifink]

open bottom

 

[Deputy Chicken]

forgot to add, this is an elevated coop that sits two feet above ground

 

[yogifink]

I'm confused, how can it have an open bottom, but be 2 feet off of the ground? Do you mean building it like a rabbit pen with a hardware cloth floor?

 

[Deputy Chicken]

the coop has four sides and a top, but sets two feet off the ground held up by four posts wrapped in wire

 

[Entropicpoke]

I have the same question. I live in south Texas and we get maybe 2 freezes a winter. I have a chicken run that is 30 ft by 24 ft and am planning to build a new coop inside the run. I am not worried about predators as the run is fully enclosed and concreted into the ground around the perimeter.

I am planning on building a 4x8 coop with an open bottom, 4 walls and a roof at about 7-8 feet off the ground. The bottom perimeter of the coop will be 18-24 inches above the ground. The coop will have vents on the sides near the top and the rafters will be open between the tops of the walls and the roof for ventilation.

I do not want a floor because of the mess created by the roosting chickens. I would rather rake the ground below periodically.

Why do I need a floor?