Drop Out floors on coops????

[Suisan]

Kelly I love your set up. You used the windows so well. I'm copying it!

I do have a question though, as scale is hard to tell in the photos. How deep is your shed/coop? And do you mostly access the rest of the floor through the swing out window?

My husband's agreed: This is the one he'll help me build. Yay!

 

[TheBigYin]

I'm in the early stages of planning a new coop, and I am going to have a collpasing floor over half the run (to let you walk in to clean inside.

My idea for a catch was a long piece of rebar or threaded rod running along the open side of the floor, which you could pull out and push in with a handle on the near side, and it wouldf slot into a drolled hole on the far side.

Hopefully this will be snug enough.

 

[nrdigrrl]

We have a drop out floor. LOVE IT! Our hen house is 4x5. We used regular heavy duty hinges and carriage bolts to keep it in place. To keep the drafts out we stapled old bicycle tire tubes around the floor frame as weather stripping. We also use a pseudo deep litter method for bedding so the extra 10" of bedding helps keep the drafts out too.

Photos here at our flickr site.

The floor in action.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/benish/1751874637/in/set-72157602222742046/

The floor in the up position & bedding barrier in place.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/benish/2195260481/in/set-72157602222742046/

Click through to see the full construction process.

 

[hillbillygreen]

I saw a similar design on a tractor like we're making and they put a wire floor in it so the droppings go to the ground.

I like the idea of not sticking my noggin in there for clean up all the time, but I worry about several things.

1. Drafts for our zone 5 winters.

2. Easy access for critters or predators

3. An over abundance of poo all around the yard.

Obviously with a run there will already be scattered poo, but I somehow8 to 12 hours less... with the rest in the compost seems nicer.

Okay, I do a lot of thinking out loud... sorry

 

[johnmayersquare]

Quote:
Wow! Those are some awesome ideas you have for your coop.......LOVE IT!