coop door

[rich0790]

I am new to chickens but have been reading up as much as I can. I bought a coop this summer but modified it to be up off the ground. I am just realizing that my bright idea of putting mesh on the bottom so the poop would fall out underneath was better in theory than reality. Now that winter is coming I'm going to have to put linoleum down to cut out the draft.

My question for you all is, does my coop have to have a door? The coop, up until now, has been open into the run at all times. I have never locked them in because the run is secure enough that I don't need to. I live in Utah so winters get pretty cold, if I keep the door open is it going to create too much of a draft?

thanks for you advice!

 

[thomasboyle]

A door is not mandatory, most coops have them for security purposes. If you are positive that nothing can get into your run / coop, then there is no reason to close the door. If you do get drafts through the open door, you can build a wind block wall inside the coop, so when a chicken goes in the door, they have to go left or right around wind block wall.

One idea for raised coops with a wire floor is to build a floor a couple of inches below the wire, and make it so the floor slides out like a drawer so you can easily remove all the poop from the coop. This is also an easy way to get free fertilizer for your garden.

 

[Kelsie2290]

I usually leave my chicken doors open all the time. In the winter I usually either lean a piece of plywood in front or stack a couple of straw bales as a wind break (also keeps snow out).

 

[aart]

Just curious as to what sized mesh you used for the floor and how well the poop fell thru?

 

[rich0790]

I bought the mesh at home depot, I forget what it is called but it is about 1cm size squares. That's another way it worked better in theory than reality, the poop doesn't fall through very much so most of it I shovel out the trap door in the corner then rake out from underneath. Two sides of the bottom are closed off, one side is open into the run and the 4th side has a chicken wire covered door I can lift up to get to the droppings..

 

[Roxannemc]

I built a tractor coop with the hareware cloth floor If i use a long ax handle i can rub a lot out the wire then hose the rest thru Winter I put six " wide boards in linolium on top of the boards with some straw on it. thenfold it up and pull it out to dump it.Pretty easy...cool in summer and warm in winter.Chooks love it better than any other tractor i have built and they have their choice of three to go in but all go in this one but two hens.
Utah.... think i would build a door of some sort.Why chance it.