Door in the floor?

[meags163]

I modeled my coop after one that had a square hole in the floor where the chickens walked down the ladder, and didn't realize until later that the coop is located in a warm weather climate. I live in CT and now I'm not sure if I should rebuild the coop to put the door on the side, or if there is a way to cover the door in the winter....any else have their door in the floor?

 

[cmom]

I have seen some posts of coops with more than one level where they have a ladder going to an upper part. Warm air rises so as long as the roosts are pretty high up I don't think there is a problem. It will be a source of ventilation.

 

[patandchickens]

The main two reasons not to have a hole in the floor, IMO, are a) you lose too much bedding that way, and b) it takes away badly-needed floorspace. I would not worry especially about it in a cold climate sense; after all, warm air rises

Because of the a) and b) above, personally I would convert it to a door in the wall. But, if you're happy with the hole int eh floor now, you will probably not be a whole lot less happy with it this winter (assuming good windbreak preventing wind from gusting up the hole), so you could just leave it that way if you like it.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat