Drop Out floors on coops????

[2dream]

Has anyone here used raised coops (say 3 to 4 feet) with floors that are hinged in back and drop down for easy cleaning? I have chicks on the way and I would like to keep the breeds seperate. Since there will only be 5 or so of each breed I am thinking of building my coop off the ground with hinged floors that will drop down into a wheelbarrow or little red wagon for easy cleaning.

 

[Chirpy]

I've never seen it done but I love the idea.

My only question would be can you keep it pulled up tight enough to not cause drafts or leakage during rain?

With the constant weight of the chickens you would want to make sure whatever hinges and lock you use are heavy duty and can handle that over time.

 

[2dream]

I will use piano hinges on the back side and am still exploring options for locking the front. I am thinking some type of slide lock.
Two sets of the chickens are banties and the other is standard. Since all will be in seperate runs, the coops will be for night time and laying mostly. I figure weight won't be that big of a problem.

 

[patandchickens]

hm, that is certainly an interesting sounding idea and probably worth trying! I would really like to hear how it comes out.

If you were concerned about sturdiness, you could always have one or two bars (like, 2x2) that go all the way across underneat the bottom, slotting into metal fittings on both ends, that'd both brace and 'lock' the bottom. Just pull 'em out when you want to open the floor.

I think you will want to have 2 short 'sides' on the hinged floor (not the hinge side or the one that is closest to you when you open it, I mean -- the 'side' sides) to keep the bedding from falling off in those directions when you open the floor, which I think it'd otherwise want to do.

Good luck!


Pat

 

[2dream]

Thanks Pat, I had not thought of that. That is now part of the plan.
We will start on this new Chicken Castle as soon as we get a weekend with no rain. We figure two weekends and its a done deal. So anyone with ideas send them on.

 

[patandchickens]

Hey, I was thinking about this last night... it is going to be somewhat complicated, I think, to design what you're talking about. The difficulty is to have proper support for the coop without interfering at all with the drop-down floor. It can be *done*, but I am not certain whether it'd be worth your while to go in for the complicated construction. (Unless there is a simpler way that I'm missing).

Two similar alternatives to consider would be either

a) have a fixed floor, with an 18" high sliding panel along the bottom of the wall that you'd slide out in order to scrape the bedding/poo into your wheelbarrow. You'd want to put some flashing or other type of rain/runoff deflector just above it.

or

b) have cabinet-style doors that open and a removable sill that lets you scrape the bedding/poo directly out into your wheelbarrow (take a look at my tractor page , scroll most of the way down, you will see how I did this, I will say it works really really well for fast cleaning).

Good luck and I would really like to hear what you come up with and how it works,

Pat

 

[2dream]

Thanks again Pat,
I have explained my plan to my DH (That should have 2 d's for dedicated and dear). He says he understands my plan and that it should not be to terribly complicated.
He says we are starting this weekend weather permitting. We will use piano hinges (just like on my kitchen cabinet doors that two boys repeatedly climbed on and they held) and 2 slide hasp like you would use on regular household door.
We do not have a preditor problem so that is not something I have to worry about. But the wire for the run will be buried at least 2 inches in the ground.
Your ideas have been great and I thank you.
BTW - you did a great job on your portable chicken coop.
I hope to post pics in a couple of weeks. The worst that can happen is it won't work and we have to put in a different floor.

 

[Kelly FG]

my coop has a poop pit under the roost & just that area drops down on hinges. its not drafty because there are always wood chips on the floor. my coop is almost two years old & its been a great system.

 

[2dream]

Hey Kelly, Got any pics. I would love to see your setup.

 

[dlhunicorn]

I have such coops. I have silkies which only use the coops to sleep (they have a roofed run connecting the different coops) as I have no predators to speak of here they have free access to my yard from the time they wake till the time they put themselves to bed.
The floor is thick aluminium sheeting which rests on a "frame" .... I chose aluminium as I can thoroughly disinfect this with a blow torch if necessary and it is lighweight enough to totally remove yet strong enough to hold the sand which I use underneath the litter to keep all dry (I use a cardbord liner underneath the sand)...
The roof is in two parts >an inner roof and an outer roof. The inner roof just pops in (flat- resting on a frame) and the outer roof is slanted and hinged in two parts as I must of course access the inside to clean (I use cardboard boxes (low sided) with shavings as their nests and this gets cleaned weekly and regularly replaced with a new box) and also remove the floor (which I do twice a year).
There is a hole in the floor (edges covered as they are sharp) which is how the birds get in and out.
The inside of the coop is lined with plastic wall paneling which makes it easy to clean and prevents mites and such from getting a foothold as they can do with wood. I will take a pic during my spring clean and show you how it all works.