I have to ask

[harveyhorses]

Mine is raised for several reasons. I had to build it inside the converted dog pen, which is 12 x 22, I've only got five girls, (all I want really) and it gives them more room. My coop is 4 x 8, so that is 24 sq ft of wander around room that they would not have. I also built with materials I had on hand. They can only free range when I am out with them, or at least in and out of the house. they made it through last winter with no problem. The ramp door is not in the floor, but the side. It is functional and is built to last. Why would being off the ground make them last for not as long? (I actually found that slightly insulting,

I just spent the morning helping my bff (who keeps my horse with her horse for no charge other than labor, and split the feed cost) clean up her hay room. She has no room for a loft, so we have a moister barrier, pallets raised on 4 x 4s and hay on them. Can we say FLOOD? She has been there 17 years and never had this problem, it has been wet wet wet here and the water and rain came in through mole holes and gaps in the wall. The hay didn't get wet, but what had drifted down sure was, YUCK
Powhatan Va.

 

[MontanaMomma]

Our coop is just 4x4, but we slid two treated square fence posts underneath and attached. They stick out about a foot under the front door and make a handy step with a board laying across them. Now, I don't live in a wilderness area so critters nesting underneath hasn't been a problem, but I look under there every so often to make sure no one has set up camp or crawled under there and died. So far so good! If we had wanted to raise ours on stilts we would have needed to anchor with at least 2' deep post holes and concrete to keep it from blowing into our neighbors roof. We didn't want our coop to be so permanent.
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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.

 

[seanb]

We built our coop on stilts to give our flock more run space and also for shelter from weather. The ground underneath stays dry and they seem to like it for chillin' and dust baths.

We also love our stupid poop boards. Most of the poop ends up on newspaper instead of on the floor.

 

[DazeGoneBy]

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What an awesome coop! Did you enter the contest currently going on?

 

[MontanaMomma]

And I'm sure your chickies are very well informed of current events!

 

[Time-Out]

Mine's raised, because it gives them twice the run space. I let them out to free range in the afternoon, but the run would be minuscule if the coop wasn't raised.
Plus the coop is smaller and at a practical height. My garden is far too small to build any sort of walk-in coop. I wouldn't have a garden left!

 

[momma of a chicken lover]

Ours is on stilts because the original structure my son is converting was on stilts. just going with what we have...

 

[LindsayB]

Ours is raised bc our backyard doesn't really have a whole lot of shade areas. It gets them out of the sun and heat, and they love to dig underneath in the cool dirt. If it rains really hard the middle of our backyard holds water for a few hours and I don't want the coop soaking in the mud.

 

[NajmoNests]

My coop is raised because of the location: the soil has a drainage issue. This was the only area my hubby and I agreed upon. The coop has shade trees nearby in the summer and plenty of winter warmth when the leaves are gone. The winter winds are diverted by the barn. But we do live in South Carolina so we don't deal with sub-zero winters.

And as for cleaning, the wooden-slat floor is covered with a tarp. I simply roll it up, drag it into the woods, unroll it and drag the tarp until it's free of poop and shavings. My chickens refuse to use a roost since the top of the nesting boxes are more comfortable for them. I did try putting a slanted board over the boxes but ended up with broken leg on a pullet. So I let them roost there and spend an extra 15 minutes or so a week shoving the poop off with a snow shovel.

And I think I know why the birds didn't want to use the roost. The board was higher than the nesting boxes and thus closer to the ceiling which was metal. The heat coming off the metal was too much for the birds.

And the broken-legged pullet healed fine with a duct tape bandage.

Yet another GOOD use for duct tape. Thank you!

 

[SC-ChickMom]

What is the reasoning in having a mulberry tree in the chicken yard? Just curious. I love mulberries. I am currently planning what to plant around my coop. My coop, by the way, has a dirt floor with pine shavings (deep litter). Works for me, here.