New coop construction

[Moch]

Hello, I want to build a new coop. I currently have a compost pile that is boxed in by four pallets. I was thinking that I would build the coop above it. Can I make the floor out of chicken wire or something of the like? Then the poo would fall through into my compost. I would build a separate chicken tractor so the gurls can forage around my yard during the day. Would like input but please be kind!

 

[Ridgerunner]

Hi, welcome to the forum! Glad you joined!

I would not use chicken wire. It tends to be pretty fine wire but mostly because it is formed by twisting to form the mesh. That twisted knot could possibly injure their feet.

I'd use 1" welded wire. It tends to be a heavier gauge so the wire is not as "sharp". It is usually galvanized, the risk is that the galvanizing can cause sharp "spurs" as it dries. So before you install the wire, carefully rub the sides with your hand (maybe with a glove) to see if any of those spurs are sticking up. If there are any, install it with the spurs pointing down so they don't damage their feet. They are usually all on one side if they are present at all.

My brooder and grow-out coop both have 1/2" hardware cloth floors. The poop falls through and keeps the brooder and grow-out coop clean and dry. But around 12 weeks of age the poop starts not going through the holes and builds up. The 1" openings work much better for older chickens.

I do not have a compost pile underneath. I use bins to collect the poop which makes it easier to move it to my compost pile. One of the potential issues is if the poop gets too thick it stays wet and will stink and produce ammonia gas. So if you are directly over the compost pile you will need to be out there raking and turning it regularly to keep it from building up too thick. How often depends in how many birds I have and how wet or dry the weather is. Sometimes I have to empty those bins every week or even sooner. My record in really dry weather has been 6 weeks.

Good luck and once again,

 

[perkolator]

In my experience of having chickens access my compost pile, is they'll pull out the whole contents in search for worms. Personally I would plan to have the coop separated from the compost pile, especially if you're building a movable tractor - are you planning to somehow move a flock between a tractor and their coop every day???

I love to compost, and I actually use the chicken area as a very large compost pile - that's how my 2nd chicken run is setup. It gets lots of yard waste and organics dumped in (arborist wood chips, hay bales, leaves, grass clippings and yard rakings, all my kitchen food scraps, etc. to promote more worms and bugs for chickens to forage daily as a boredom buster. And then after time, you can rake aside the chunks and shovel out that beautiful topsoil underneath for gardening. The soiled bedding directly under where they roost, I transfer to the compost pile to hot compost once per year.

As for mesh floor -- Chicken wire is very porous and would not be a great choice for floor of a coop vs chicken feet; it would be better to use tighter mesh 1/2" hardware cloth - but even at 1/2" it's still will prevent poops from passing through, and give you chores of dry poop scraping on mesh, not fun. I use a small cage for chicken jail, and I think the floor are 1x1/2 mesh, which allows more poop to fall through. IMO the better choice is to use a deep dry bedding system under roost areas, top off with fresh bedding now and then, and do big clean outs to reset after like a year's time.

Good luck!

 

[Moch]

Thanks for the info! Yes I was planning to move them daily. To start with I was planning on 3 laying hens. What about the floor being made of pallets? Would that be bad for chicken feet? I am trying to do this without spending too much.