Concrete floor in coop?

[cmom]

I have wood floors in my current coops. We will be building a new coop on the back of our new barn and I have been thinking about putting in concrete but I want to raise the coop 3ft off the ground.
The barn still needs a little finishing work before we start to build the coop. This is where the new coop is going to be built.

 

[al6517]

There is really no feasable way to put concrete up 3' without major exspense and hassle.

AL

 

[LynneP]

We planked ours having a stash of horse stall flooring on hand...nice and warm in winter. I don't use deep litter method though, I keep coop dry and the bedding treated with food-grade DE and Stable Boy powders.

 

[Lane]

I too have concrete in my run, which was built from an old dog kennel. I put sand sown to soften it for their feet. Was that good?

Then it occurred to me they live in a desert and I added some old half rotten firewood that had bugs in it, which I figured would entertain them (all 3 of them). They freaked over the introduction but got over it. Then I introduced a bale of Bermuda grass to entertain them. They really freaked then and refused to leave the coop for two days until I took the bale out of the run.

I am new to chickens. These are my first and what I know, mostly I got right here lurking. Now it is time to say thanks.

Chickens are not very bright but they are entertaining. We have lots of cats in the neighborhood, so when we let them out to free range, which they dearly love, we stay with them and enjoy a glass of wine as they entertain us. Better than TV!

Lane

 

[OrpingtonManor]

Quote:
We love chicken TV with a glass of wine, too!

 

[Jodiemama]

We live in Alabama so it doesn't get too cold here in winter, maybe a week of teens at night. So no real worry of them being cold more of a worry of them getting too hot in the summer. Adding a bit of extra bedding in the winter sounds good though.

So main focus is keeping it dry in the coop? Wonder if this is doable in my humid climate? Guess I will need lots of ventilation.

Oh and where does one buy DE and stable boy powder?

Looking forward to finally having them to watch, don't know if I can wait till spring.
Can I get chicks in winter?
I think I dreamed about chickens all night last night.