Does anyone have "RAISED" Chicken Coops?

[mons02035]

It should be said that if you keep the chickens (or any animal) on a wire floor for the vast majority of their time, they will develop really bad foot problems. I have seen this first hand. If you have a wire floor and they are on it for most of thier time, please provide a place that they can be that is a solid floor. I see this a lot with rabbits and it bugs me to no end. They make special mats you can put in the cages for them to "rest" on.

I know that pretty much all of us let our chickens out in runs and kuntrygirl lays hay down and stuff but I just didn't want someone to read this thread and think that it's okay to use nothing but wire for chickens or animals that don't get to stand on solid non-wire floors. I just felt it should be said. I am not writing this because I think anything I have read so far is bad, I thought the disclaimer should be made for those that are new or don't know.

 

[kuntrygirl]

Quote:
I agree. I feel the same way about having them walk on just the wire all day long. I wouldn't want to walk on wire all day, so I make it comfortable for them.

Good point to make.

 

[kimf]

We have a raised coop it's about 3 feet off the ground and use pine shavings on plywood covered by linoleum. The chicks were moved out almost a week ago and i love it. I plan to give it a stir this weekend with a kid's rake. When the run is complete it will be sand. I was initially adamant about sand in the coop too, but I am now liking the pine. So I think it will be pine in the coop and sand in the run.

 

[daver]

Quote:
I like

 

[Elite Silkies]

I am thinking that maybe I will line half of the raised coop/wire with rubber mats. Would that work?

 

[kuntrygirl]

Quote:
Like work out rubber mats?

 

[Elite Silkies]

Quote:
Like work out rubber mats?

Yeah, that is kind of what I am talking about. They do not hold in any moisture and they can be cleaned really easy. They are super expensive, but if they will work then I don't mind.

 

[kuntrygirl]

Quote:
Like work out rubber mats?

Yeah, that is kind of what I am talking about. They do not hold in any moisture and they can be cleaned really easy. They are super expensive, but if they will work then I don't mind.

I don't know anything about the material but do u think that it's tough enough to withstand chicken toes and their scratching? Will the rubber put out any fumes if the scratching pokes holes in it? And if they happen to eat pieces of the rubber that may peel off, would it be toxic for them? That is what I would ask myself if I were thinking about using rubber mats. What do u think?

 

[D3invertebrates]

Nice cages! I use 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch wire on my hanging cage floors and my buddy with the same style cages uses 1/2 inch by 1 inch and says its fine all his quail are kept on floors with wire that size. You will find birds with foot problems with wire floors though, i noticed my heavier quail got abscess alot. One thing I noticed though with my quail is that the birds kept on the ground layed better looking eggs while the ones in hanging cages usually layed odd colored eggs, no idea why that was though. If you were gonna use mats for something I would think the the heavy black ones for horses would be good, Ive kept chickens in horse stalls with it and they were fine.

 

[Hammond Egger]

I'm going to try heavy pond liner over the part of my wire floor that isn't under the roosts.