Hardware cloth floor in Pacific Northwest?

[Kris5902]

They don't walk on the wire. It's not the entire floor of the coop. It's only under the roost. My coop is small---only 5X5 and only 4 feet high on the tall side. The wire under the roost is 2x5. Roost is about 2 and a half feet above the floor. No problems with frostbite here in the midlands of South Carolina.

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Thanks so much for the interior pics and info! Super helpful... I’m going to be building the next few days and need all the help I can get. This is my first build so I know it’s not going to perfect, but the better I can make it, will make my girls happier. I can always add a poop board if I have to, but I’d rather not... if I can help it! Poop belongs on the ground where it does good, not in a coop where it’s gross.

 

[Aunt Angus]

Thanks so much for the interior pics and info! Super helpful... I’m going to be building the next few days and need all the help I can get. This is my first build so I know it’s not going to perfect, but the better I can make it, will make my girls happier. I can always add a poop board if I have to, but I’d rather not... if I can help it! Poop belongs on the ground where it does good, not in a coop where it’s gross.

I'm a chicken newbie, and I've only built the one goofy little coop, but I added a poop board after the fact, and I'm glad I did. I just scoop it out every morning (takes a few seconds, but I have a small flock). Helps me keep an eye on their poop/health. I have PDZ on the board. I scoop the poop, give it a quick lookover, and toss it in the compost or, sometimes, scatter it on the lawn. Easy peasy.

But I really like the open floor and hardware cloth under the roost! Nice design, and seriously low maintenance! I wonder if there is a way to block the wind from coming up...

I hope you post pics of your progress! That's a neat tractor design!

 

[aart]

They don't walk on the wire. It's not the entire floor of the coop. It's only under the roost.

It's warm where you live...it's probably good ventilation in summer and no problem in the winter. But you still have to clean up the poop from under the coop, correct?

Might work for @Kris5902's mobile coop...
...but Kris will you be moving your coop in the winter?
Not sure how much snow you get there.

 

[imnukensc]

It's warm where you live...it's probably good ventilation in summer and no problem in the winter. But you still have to clean up the poop from under the coop, correct?

Correct on all counts. I rake what's under the coop out into the yard about every 3 months. Might take 2 minutes.

 

[Ridgerunner]

How wet it is makes a big difference in how often I need to clean out under my fixed grow-out coop. If it gets wet it can stink, dry it can go a long time. In colder weather I block the wind from underneath with that metal and with plastic on the sides. It has all kinds of great ventilation up high, the area under that slanted plywood is all wire let along under overhang. The compost pile is right next to it, when I clean it out I shovel it directly to the compost.

 

[Kris5902]

It's warm where you live...it's probably good ventilation in summer and no problem in the winter. But you still have to clean up the poop from under the coop, correct?

Might work for @Kris5902's mobile coop...
...but Kris will you be moving your coop in the winter?
Not sure how much snow you get there.

I should be able to move it everyday, even in winter. we occasionally get snow here, we had about 4-6” for several days last year, but it rarely lasts for long. I hope in not jinxing this year by saying that! Last year during the cold spell when the groundwater froze up I hauled water 2 miles from the house to our steers everyday for a week in 23L water cans, sometime it took three trips to get them all watered! Turns out there was a running creek for them, but it was on the far side of the property from where they were hanging out mostly.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

I have and still do use brooder pens with 1/4 inch hardware cloth floors.

However you can easily have too much of a good thing because hardware cloth floors will eventually wreck your chickens toes and the lower half of their feet.