Can I use hardware cloth as my coop floor

[BBQBenson]

I'm building an 8 x 6 coop raised 2 feet off the ground. My chickens will have an outside run and nesting boxes on both sides of the coop. Also windows up top for them to sit and look out over the pasture.I was thinking of using hardware cloth as my floor with a few 1x2s as runners my chickens could perch on. My thinking is I could collect the poop under the coop, therefore less inside cleaning required. Any thoughts?

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

I know that sounds really good in theory, but here has been my experience:

Chicken poo doesn't really fall through wire mesh easily, and a lot is left stuck to the wire. So you end up hosing it down frequently and this makes a muddy mess under the coop.

Additionally predators love to try to bite off toes through mesh, if the toe is hanging down a bit. You would almost need a double layer of hardware cloth to make them safer from this. I wouldn't recommend going this route, myself.

What has been easier for me- easier than wood slats with spaces in between- easier than wire mesh floors- is a wood floor (or plastic floor in a plastic shed) with sand on top.

Some like pine shavings and some like other bedding or sand, but it is a lot nicer not to have to hose down the inside of the coop to get the poo out.

Make sure you can reach all the way through your coop to clean it - if it is raised and very large make sure you can get in there too, to maintain it. Keep your nest boxes low and your roosts higher so they don't sleep in the nest boxes.

Cover your window openings with 1/2 inch hardware cloth to keep raccoons out.

I hope this will be of help to you in planning your coop.

Enjoy your chickens!

 

[Folly's place]

Wire floors of any sort are a very bad idea for chickens, as above. Mary

 

[Cheep N Peep]

Wire is (like a fore mentioned) a bad idea. For rabbits, sure, it works pretty well. But chickens' toenails/toes can get caught in the mesh and injured, and if the mesh is open to the elements it lets in a draft that chills any sleeping birds from underneath. If you put linoleum under whatever bedding you use, it makes the big coop clean a lot easier. You can wipe off all the non-hardened poo easily, and because linoleum is waterproof, you can spritz the hardened stuff with warm vinegar water and let it soak for a bit.
-CNP

 

[Kikiriki]

I have not had any foot problems with my chickens, and they don't mind walking on it for the brief time they spend locked in and awake. They have perches, so in the evening they just walk in and hop up to the perch, so no toe nibbling is possible.

I did want that extra airflow, too, as I am in FL, but in a colder place that would be something to think about. Maybe a tarp hung outside would still allow ventilation but stop any breezes?

I DO fully agree with poop issue, though. I have 1/2 inch mesh and it is not "flow through"!

It is harder to clean because the poop dries wrapped around the wire, then the poo still has to be cleaned from underneath the coop... I put newspaper down to catch it when scraping the wire off, then just put paper under the roost to catch the poop...