Is bare concrete with faux grass okay to use as the floor of a hen house?

[bjdewell]

I'm putting concrete down where I will place my hens' coop. They are outside free-ranging from dawn to dusk, and only go into their small coop to eat, drink, munch on egg shells and grit, and then go out again. At dusk they come in and eat/drink and I throw in some grubs for a treat and shut the outside hardware cloth door. When they are ready, they head up the ramp and roost for the night.

My question is whether it would be okay for the hens if I left that concrete bare. That floor area is like a basement under the actual coop where they sleep, so it doesn't get much poop, but would be easy to hose out if there was some, or just to keep it clean and hose off desert dust.

If the concrete wouldn't be such a good idea, I have some leftover faux grass that's in the yard, the hens love roaming around on it looking for bugs, and I could lay down enough to cover the concrete inside the coop's perimeter. The weight of the coop would hold it in place.

We live in the high desert of New Mexico where it gets pretty hot in the summer, and cold in the winter, but the hens are Black Australorps, heavy bodied, full feathered, and they do well in any weather. This will be their third summer. I have a rolling swamp cooler that I plug in outside and point into their coop basement when the temps are high, and there's lots of shade in my yard that they use, also, to stay cooler. In the colder weather they do great without any assistance from me. But it's normally very dry here, and we don't get a lot of rain.

I'm attaching a photo of their wood hen house with the hardwire cloth that surrounds the taller part where their food and water are and the basement under the coop. There is no flooring. Right now it's on the ground that is covered with rocks but I'm having a problem figuring out how to predator-proof it from the ground. I'm having a concrete walkway poured soon, and thought about adding a little pad of concrete extending out from the walkway that the coop could securely sit on, the concrete would extend six inches outside the perimeter of the coop, so nothing could get under and inside it.

Thanks for any suggestions or insight into the concrete question.

 

[aart]

In your desert climate the concrete would probably be fine.
I would not use the fake grass.
What would concern me is the small size and lack of ventilation in the prefab coop.

 

[AinaWGSD]

I would definitely skip the faux grass. It's made of plastic and I would be concerned about the chickens eating it as it eventually breaks down. If you feel like they need some cushioning from the concrete you could always throw down some wood chips/shavings/mulch.

 

[bjdewell]

In your desert climate the concrete would probably be fine.
I would not use the fake grass.
What would concern me is the small size and lack of ventilation in the prefab coop.

The coop is small, but it has a secure door that opens into the cloth wired surrounding area that is below the coop. I can leave that sliding door partway open, or completely open, which is what I do in the summer. They wake up and go into the lower area to eat and drink, and when I'm up around 7, I let them out into the yard. There are also a doors on the front and back that can be opened and secured with cloth wire.

I would definitely skip the faux grass. It's made of plastic and I would be concerned about the chickens eating it as it eventually breaks down. If you feel like they need some cushioning from the concrete you could always throw down some wood chips/shavings/mulch.

Thanks for that. I appreciate it!