Coop exit in bottom or side?

[Utard]

I am building my coop and was thinking the exit ramp would work better if it came out the bottom of the coop.

I have seen ONE picture of one built that way.

I guess my question is this ok to do? Will the chickens be ok with this.

I can do one in the side but because of size constraints coming out he bottom would work a lot better. But if the chickens are not cool with this type of thing I will not do it.

 

[tymimo]

Chickens will do either. My one concern with the exit in the floor is bedding falling out. My friend has a small coop where the entire floor of the coop is hinged and in the day she lowers it like a ramp for the girls to come out and at night she pulls the floor up. If you look at the coops in the coop section you'll see that people do both styles.

 

[GreenBabe5]

I made the floor kind because our run addition was going to take some time. To stop the litter (sand) from going down i put three sides with a litter stop. And the trap door that closes has the fourth side on it so at night it's tight closed. Took my girls a few days to use the ramp and the silkie a few weeks go go all the way back up. (first night was last night she did it without me!) If you plan to have an autodoor opener in the future it would be structurally easier to do the side kind. I'll have to rig one with this floor opening.

 

[Utard]

Is bedding really necessary in the coop?? I know I need some in the nesting boxes but in the coop.

 

[GreenBabe5]

I'm still new to this but my chickens won't sleep on the roost so they cuddle up in the sand. Plus it catches the poo and keeps smell down. If you plan to let them go right on the flooring you'll be doing a lot of scraping.