making my first coop(need help with floor)

[thepremo1]

I was thinking that it would be raised 2 feet off the ground, and the floor being made of wire/hardware cloth, something to that effect. This way I could rake the wastes out from under the coop and not have to spend money on pine chips. My question is "is this a good idea" because if I do this the floor would be open all the time. i would save money on not haveing to buy pine shavings, is it worth it
how much do you ussually pay for whatever you have on the bottem of your coop?

 

[Intheswamp]

The way I understand it is that chicken poop, especially from large fowl, can have a difficult time passing through most sizes of hardware cloth due to it's size and that it can get hung up even in larger sized welded mesh wire. This is from people using wire mesh to keep chickens from getting into the poop that is on the dropping board.

If the mesh is big enough for the poop to go through then it is definitely big enough for a predator to reach through.

Also, it will be more difficult to warm if you live in an area that has cold enough weather to require auxillary heating.

Other, more experienced people will hopefully chime in, but for me I vote for a solid floor.

Best wishes,
Ed

 

[bockbock2008]

My coop meaures 8' x 12' and 8' x 8' is a solid floor but the 4' x 8' section at the end has a 1" x 2" welded wire floor. Their roosts are over that area. That said, yes the poop does seem to have a hard time getting through sometimes especially on the floor joist support boards. but ususally i can just take a rake, turn it upside down so the flat side is down and go over the wire and it will fall through.

 

[Intheswamp]

Quote:
I checked your coop out and it looks very good. Your run ain't bad either!

Looking at your droppings pit it looks as though the pit is completely enclosed within the coop which makes the dropping pit secure from predators and more or less stops drafts from entering there. I think thepremo1 is planning on having a smaller coop mounted on legs with an open bottom to it in which case I think he would be better off with a solid bottom. A little bit more work on keeping it sanitary, but more security and less drafts.

Do you think if you'd gone with 2x4 welded wire that the poop would move through without a problem? Just wondering for my "future" coop plans.

Thanks.

Ed

P.S. I don't blame you for not wanting to cut up those nestboxes....nice!

 

[elmo]

Aside from the poop sticking to the wire problem, also consider how easy it will be to clean out the area under your coop. I have a 4' by 4' coop up on posts, and my chickens like to hang out under there, but it really isn't very easy to get a shovel or rake in under the coop to clean.

Inside my coop, I use a boot tray under the roost. It's simple to pull it out, take it over to my composter, and dump out the contents of the tray.

If you use 2" by 4" wire, not only do you have potential drafts to consider, you also need to be sure that your coop is inside a predator proof run, because obviously many predators can reach up through such large openings to grab at your birds. I've even heard about birds getting their toes and feet bitten off in wire bottom cages with much smaller openings that that.

 

[Bossroo]

Another thing to consider is to make sure that your coop is anchored very well with posts in conrete to the ground as in a very still wind, there will be an updraft and the entire coop will take flying lessons and land upside down. I converted one stall of a 4 stall steel mare motel ( 4each 12x x 12) by adding T-111 panels onto one 12 x 12 stall. Well that baby flew 30 feet and landed on it's roof.