Dirt floor in hen house.. Terrible idea?

[CHIC]

I'm starting my coop and my fiance wants to do a dirt floor because it will be a lot easier. Does anyone have a dirt floor? Is it a terrible idea? Help me out here. My only concern is safety. I'm afraid that something might just dig under it at night

 

[darkmatter]

Quote:
I have a dirt sub-floor, coop is built on a brick foundation I dug a trench for. (See my BYC page)

 

[big greg barker]

chicken have been kept on dirt floors for a few thousand years. Nothing wrong with that.................

 

[Guinea Goonie]

We have a dirt floor in the barn. The chickens use it for dust baths and it is very easy to clean up the food waste and poop.

We just rake up the floor into little piles, take the piles to the horse manuer pile and we are done.

The chickens seem to love the dirt under thier feet.

We have two wire mesh 12x12 "stalls" that have pine shavings bedding. We turn this over every 4 to 6 months.

Afer all chicken poop is sorta hard to "muck".

NO food or water are in the stalls.

The girls really like the idea that they are locked up at night and they can if they wish fly over the top of the stalls to food and water.


We have rooss in the stalls and they can roost on top of the stalls or in the rafters of the barn.

The Guineas are usually found in the rafters.
Hope this helps.

 

[CHIC]

hey darkmatter, thanks for that it makes me feel better... Do you have any problems with predators in your henhouse or run? That was my next question, how dangerous is it to not have wire over top of the run?

 

[CHIC]

Awww... I wish I had a barn, thats so cool. Thats my next project after this coop.

 

[kathyinmo]

If you are just starting the build... I suggest you frame in a wooden floor. This will prevent predators digging in under the sides. It is also nice to have wooden floors painted with oil porch paint or covered in linoleum, for ease in cleanup. What about the weather, what is your location.... will rain water go inside and cause wet coop?

YOU get my vote.... wooden floor.

Have fun!

 

[CHIC]

I think we are going to make a trench around it and put a barrier and drains for any run off water. We are using an existing structure for the coop so if we do a dirt floor, its gonna add like 20 square feet to the henhouse and a couple feet in height too, so I think this is our best option. We are gonna do a barn next, so if it doesn't work well, we will know.

 

[BantyRooster]

If you take 2x4 welded wire or hardware cloth and secure it to the sides and run it away from the building on top of the ground it will prevent predators from digging under into the coop.
Cover it with dirt or just stake it down and the grass will grow through it.

Secure it with poultry staples, nailed in with a hammer, or screws and washers or a bond board.

Run it out about two feet away from the outside walls. If you can, put it on and then put the wood siding up. This way the wire is under the siding against the building.

I have a dirt floor in my hen house, sand, well drained. I have never had a problem with flooding or critters. As a side note, I use pne shavings 6-8 inches deep on top of the sand. I change the shavings twice a year.

I say go for the dirt floor and spend the money wood will cost else where.

Banty

 

[Chicks_N_Horses]

We buried tin about 6-8 inches down into the ground. Nothing has ever tried to dig into our coops and been sucessful. We have dirt floor. I take hay and spread out thick on my dirt floor. Then about once every couple weeks I till the dirt up too. I don't like it to get hard. I like them to be able to dig in it as they love to do that. I like to keep my chickens in as natural environment as possible and they LOVE dirt