Open Bottom Coop

[JHitchcock]

Hi all,
I am new to the forum and chickens... but keep parrots and finches. Im contemplating keeping a few chickens and I am considering various designs for my coop. I would only have 4 -6 chickens. For the coop however, I was thinking for the bottom instead of having a solid board, i would use hardwire mesh say .5" square, with a poop tray underneath that would slide out for easy cleaning and disposal of litter - of course the wire would get a scrape and clean every now and then... This way poops would just drop thru to the poop tray which would be add to ventilation because the tray would be underneath the coop and im hoping would simplify the process. would there be any problems with this?

 

[waynesgarden]

Wire is hard on chickens' feet and blocks their natural tendancy to scratch in the litter.

You don't say what climate you live in but in the north, the litter on the floor might be an important factor to their survival.

Wayne

 

[rufus]

This all depends upon your climate. We have always made our coops without a bottom. But, we live a very hot climate. We staple an old piece of fencing on the bottom of the elevated coop. This keeps preditors from getting them from below, but allows the poop to fall through.

That said, our chickens only use the coop to roost in. During the day they are running around the chicken yard.

Rufus

 

[JHitchcock]

I live in Bermuda - so the climate is relatively mild - sub tropical, The weather RARELY goes below 60 in the coldest winter months. There are also no natural predators that would threaten the birds...

 

[waynesgarden]

Supposing then that the birds would be spending the bulk of their day on the ground and not the wire, then you're really not doing much differently than those who build dropping pits under the roosts and closing it off with wire.

Never did it myself so can't say how 1/2" hardware cloth would work, whether poop whould fall through without building up unacceptably. Works ok for rabbits.

Wayne

 

[JHitchcock]

yeah the birds would have their own separate run and retire to the coop at night or whenever. Come to think of it the mesh squares would probably need to be a bit larger to facilitate the poop falling through instead of collecting on the grate.