Mesh floor: What material should I use?

[Citychick11]

I'm thinking of using 1" hardware cloth as a floor for my coop. The floor will be about a foot off the ground and then a second story is accessible above that. I just wanted to check to see if anyone has had trouble with their chickens getting their feet or toes caught in that size wire, or if I would have any trouble with predators. They will be roosting on the 2nd level which will be made of wood. Do you know of any other reasons I should change my design?

 

[vehve]

I haven't tried the mesh floor myself, but to my understanding, while the poop falling through is a nice idea in theory, in practice it tends to not do that. Also, I'm foreseeing unnecessary leg injuries. I've read a lot of posts where people have decided to switch away from the mesh floor.

Any reason why you couldn't go with a solid floor and some sort of bedding?

 

[JeanR]

Would you like to live in a home with wire floors--?? Wouldn't it keep your feet dry and clean? NO!!

Not comfortable for chicks, chickens either!! And yes, toes can get caught--not fun or safe. A nice bedding of dry shavings is not hard to manage, keep it DRY and the chickens will love to be scratching it about ( that is what chickens love to do, free range or cooped). Too many birds in a small area to keep the floor clean? Like most of us, either fewer chickens or more space is the only answer! Good luck.

 

[Citychick11]

I understand your reasoning. My husband designed the coop. He didn't buy enough wood to do wood flooring. So he will make it how he wants even if I say something. I will try to convince him.

Teresa

 

[donrae]

My thought is the mesh would be a huge pain to keep clean. Mesh really doesn't have large enough holes for large bird's poop to go through, so the waste is going to set on the wire, not fall through it. Anything with holes large enough for poop to go through is going to be large enough for feet to go through. If you put something like shavings in there, some of the shavings will go partially through the mesh, creating a solid mat that will be a real bugger to clean out. You'll be raking shavings from the inside and trying to push them through each of those tiny little holes. I understand about dealing with a honey who gets an idea in his mind

. If you do wind up with a coop with a mesh floor, I'd use a good, thick layer of straw for the bedding. Straw kind of mats together if you don't fluff it regularly, that would make a good surface for walking. Straw should be easier to clean out also, although honestly either one sounds like a pita.

Is it possible to just have the coop set on the ground?

 

[jcinadr]

I read that 1/2" is max if you are doing it stop coons. That is too large for young chicks. 1/4" works ok with young chicks, but clogs quickly.

In all fairness, my coop is on the ground - but my birds are rarely on the floor in the coop - they are usually in the run, or perched in the coop. I have wire in my brooder and grow out cages.

 

[joker468]

I'm thinking of using 1" hardware cloth as a floor for my coop. The floor will be about a foot off the ground and then a second story is accessible above that. I just wanted to check to see if anyone has had trouble with their chickens getting their feet or toes caught in that size wire, or if I would have any trouble with predators. They will be roosting on the 2nd level which will be made of wood. Do you know of any other reasons I should change my design?

If it were my coop I would not put a floor in it at all. When you wrap the wire around the frame leave a "skirt" of about 12 inches on the ground and then bury it with soil and rocks. This will keep predators from burrowing under. I also use a solar powered electric fencer to run a hot wire around my pen top, bottom (about 2 inches off the ground) and anywhere else a predator may try to gain entry. Hardware cloth is not a good choice for bottoms of bird cages, they injure their legs and feet too often.
Another option perhaps you might want to consider is the "chicken tractor". It is a portable pen that you can move when the poop gets too deep. It can also be protected with electric fence.

 

[jcinadr]

I have been around several different types of commercial bird houses.

The one in my backyard (my mother's - she raised parakeets (2k breeding pair)), had a cement floor. We would cover it with sand. Once a year or so, we would do major cleaning (I assume after a molt - I was a kid). Every box got washed and scrubed, floors jot scraped and new sand was put in it. It is a warehouse now - hard to tell it housed all those birds for 20 years or so.

When I was a little older, I cleaned pullet houses. They had a dirt floor - but the poop would get an inch plus thick. We would use pitch forks to get under the poop, and would stack layers of it caked on the fork untill it was worth throwing it in the trailer. I think when we built them, they had a cement beam supporting the exterior wall - no digging under that. (I did not help build those - I did help build other dry houses. The dry houses did not use cages).

I also helped build wet houses. Those are the laying houses that everyone associates with the evils of commercial poultry. The floor was all cement, with troughs and walkways. The cages were hung above the troughs, so the poop that fell could we washed out. Since those houses were secure - I think they used a fairly large mesh wire.

 

[okcflygirl]

We used half inch hardware mesh for the bottom of the run and placed utility trays filled with sand underneath.The poo that does not fall through, I just lightly run a rake over, to knock it through the holes. Then use a kitty litter scooper to remove the poo from the sand. The coop is large with plenty of roosts, with pine shavings for the floor. We also built a sand box which is attached to the run. I am very pleased with how easy it is to clean.

 

[okcflygirl]

We used half inch hardware mesh for the bottom of the run and placed utility trays filled with sand underneath.The poo that does not fall through, I just lightly run a rake over, to knock it through the holes. Then use a kitty litter scooper to remove the poo from the sand. The coop is large with plenty of roosts, with pine shavings for the floor. We also built a sand box which is attached to the run.