I have to ask

[mandelyn]

Well it's not like chickens can utilize all that airspace in a human height run. Raise it 3 ft or so and they get more room, good choice for small spaces. Whether it's winter friendly or not is up to the builder and the climate.

I have to pick up poo daily because the city ordinance says so. If anyone should complain and someone comes out, I won't be caught doing my own thing against the code. Everything is picture perfect, clean and tidy, no smell, and poo is scooped daily. Dogs too, now that I have the trash can back there. I guess their concern is ground water contamination or odor from past people not taking the right care... whatever the reason, that's what I have to do. So, I have sand in the run for easy scooping and no bedding waste, poo boards for a quick once over in the morning, and anything else I can utilize to make cleaning easy and fast.

Fly traps and vanilla scented air fresheners inside... the works. We're urban, that's how it needs to be. Out in the country... concrete pad and deep litter method. Too paranoid about predators to leave it as dirt. I've dealt with coons, opossum, fox, hawks... they're never getting an easy meal from me ever again.

People have to use whatever design and method works for their climate, location, space, and number of birds.

 

[mikecnorthwest]

I think you answered your own question. You grew up in the midwest around farms so I would think that all of the chicken coops you saw were larger structures and more like traditional agricultural structures. The artsy fartsy craft type coops you now see in urban settings are designed to be practical for the small flock yet blend with an urban surrounding. Think of it as an art form, kind of like comparing paint by number to a nice watercolor.

 

[7&8]

darkmatter, I'd say to each his/ her own. I checked out your BYC page, and honestly, your set-up sounds great to me! I wish I was sitting under the Mulberry tree with you & your chickens right now!

Seriously, over the course of time, you've created a garden/ poultry arrangement in your environment that sounds hard to beat. I admire: your plantings; water collection; goldfish as pest control; composted litter/ garden compost; patience to have guineas; proximity of run to veg garden so as to easily share the crop with those who love it most! I especially like that you've managed to grow tomatoes right in their range/ run.

I almost put a shed on the ground. If I had, the interior would be habitually damp. Critters large & small would chew their way in & eat my birds. So, it's not that I'm opposed to "grounded" coops, it's rather that they would not work in the environment I live in.

 

[gale65]

Several of your friends' chickens have frozen to death over the winter?? If so I find it hard to believe we don't see more posts at this board, where the majority have raised coops (at least raised a few inches if not more), of northern dwellers having chickens freeze to death.

btw about 20 yrs ago I had chickens on a concrete floor and they got no extra heat and the normal depth of bedding (maybe 4 or 6 inches of straw) and I never lost one over the winter.

 

[JackE]

I looked at alot of designs too. I ended up using one from almost a hundred years ago. My coop was just about the egg industry standard of the time. The book (Not a computer) I got the plan from, goes in great detail of just about every aspect of the house and why it is, like it is. It's raised mainly to keep rats and other pests from setting up house underneath. Although the birds like to go under for shade and dustbaths. This coop is very well lit and ventilated. I personally would NOT want anything to do with building a concrete/brick foundation for a chicken coop. I guess if you have a very well drained area, you could do what you have done. Digging a hole in the ground and putting a coop over it. But if the house is sited wrong, The chickens could have there own indoor swimming pool. What do you do in the winter as far as water goes? With no electricty, or extension cord run out there. Do you just run out freshwater several times a day? Not me, I had to build one of those waterer warmers, and run the extension cord out to it. Also, I only clean out and replace the coop's litter twice a year, Hardly what I would call "Constant". Other than that, I kind of agree with you though, on the CrapBoards, Not necessary.
Jack

 

[citychickx6]

For me it was a question of space. I needed to have some ground space for them. The raised coop was built in order to separate newish chickens from meanish chickens. I do prefer a tall coop on the ground, not practical for me in this case.

 

[darkmatter]

Quote:
During the winter, when I go to let them out, I'll carry a jug to refill the indoor rubber tub water bucket while the outside water is frozen. It rarely freezes during the day, so in the morning I'll invert and stomp out the rubber tub and refill.

 

[MontanaMomma]

I live in Montana where we usually have about a month (sometimes more) of -20 temps with winds up to 90 mph. Our first winter with chickens we had a coop that sat on the ground (still kicking myself). During these cold snaps the ground beneath the coop would be so cold that the floor inside the coop would condensate when we heated the inside of the coop with a heat lamp. We'd end up with ice on the floor, soaking wet straw and very grumpy girls. Then on days that heated up past freezing the coop was like a refrigerator- the ground kept the coop freezing cold. Now our coop isn't on four foot stilts, but we put it up about 6 inches and it makes all the difference in the world. It is dryer, warmer and the air circulates much better. With all the other reasons stated here, I believe that the question should not be, "should my coop be raised off the ground," it SHOULD be "how high should my coop be off the ground." Take all environmental factors into consideration and go from there.

 

[lauriej57]

Quote:
I have wondered about this. I was hoping for a new coop this year, not going to happen until spring. My 2 coops now are raised coops, typical on stilts, but I want a shed type coop that I can walk into. A 6x6 or 8x8 coop obviously can't be raised up on stilts, so I was wondering how high to raise it. With a wooden floor, it would have to be raised, but I was wondering if 6 inches or so wold be high enough to keep other critters from digging under it, and if it would be high enough to keep the ground underneath from freezing completely and causing ice on the floor and such as you said.

I was thinking of putting chicken wire underneath, then putting one layer of regular sized bricks completely around the bottom, and setting the coop of top. I'm sure I'd have to put something else for support underneath also.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Quote:
Why can't you raise a 6X6 or 8X8 coop? Are these existing coops and that are already tied into the ground? I am building an 8X8 raised coop. If you can build a deck.. you can build ANY sized coop up off the ground!

Raised coops are built the same way a deck is built- with 2X4 hangers, and corner posts, etc. You can check out my BYC page- It has the base of my 8X8 coop shown. I'm a lot farther along now (need to add more recent pics!) But, I'm now wishing I'd done a 12X12 raised coop! Which is totally possible. Think about all the fully enclosed and covered decks people have on the back of their homes. We had a playhouse on the ground for the kids- it was a Mecca for mice- I was always setting traps under there and trying to kill them. I know I'm not going to have that problem with my raised coop- no safe dark tight place for a mouse to call home.

BTW- our playhouse was destroyed along with a shed last week in one of our 90 mph Kansas wind storms. Another thought if you're getting ready to build--- build it with screws (no nails!), and set corner posts deep in the ground.