Open Floor

[chickengarden]

I'd love to know what everyone thinks about an open floor design we are considering using with our hen house. We live in the interior of Washington state where the winters will get down to zero and even 10 below. (I've heard it can get to -15 but hasn't since I've lived here these last 10 years.) We also do not get a lot of precipitation 8-10" of rain a year.
The hen house would be raised off the ground about 24-30". The house and the coop would be completely fenced with 1" chicken wire. So, for the hens to enter the house they would (hopefully) hop up into it from the ground below. If that didn't work so well or if we needed to have it higher we could have some sort of ladder for them.
This way their roosts would be up in the hen house but there would be open ground below. The roosts would also allow them to access nesting boxes. We were thinking of keeping the food and water outside or hanging under the nesting boxes below the house.
So, with this design do you think the hen house would be warm enough? If not what about if the two walls on the windward side were all the way to the ground? Would that be enough?
Our reasons for this is it would give the chickens a little extra outdoor space and I think it would also facilitate the Deep Litter Method. I plan on doing the DLM for the floor of the house and the coop area.
If it is helpful to know what breeds of chickens we have they are two Rhode Island Reds, two Buff Orpingtons, two Australorps, an Ameraucana and a Barred Rock.
Thank you for your time. We would love lots of feedback. Please give us your thoughts or ask questions if the design isn't clear.

 

[Lacrystol]

Well it definitely would be easier to clean up after them. Not sure about it being warm enough in the winter though, but what about the water freezing up in the winter? What about wind blowing the food around? But I really like the thought of easy access for cleaning after them.

 

[NCnarrator]

We're in NC and we have an open floor (it's relatively common here, where it's hot and humid and doesn't get very cold in the winters as a rule). We used hardware cloth instead of chicken wire, though. Chicken wire is very very flexible, so it'll distort as the chickens walk on it. The holes will also distort and get much bigger than you'd expect which can let predators at the chickens.

We're planning on wrapping the base in heavy plastic if it happens to get really really cold and stay that way for more than a night.

 

[speedy2020]

I am moving my coop soon and consider replace solid wood floor with hardware cloth for easy cleaning. Is the floor 1/2"x1" galvanized rabbit wire good enough for 2 months to adult chickens?

 

[chickengarden]

Thanks so much for your responses so far. We are also planning on having a way to close it up in the winter. I think we are going to have removable panels.

 

[chickengarden]

I found a picture which I think helps with my description. Our idea is to have the floor open and wire around the legs to enclose it. (The house will also be attached to a run.) Also, because we've decided to add a storage space to the house it will have two sides where the plywood walls will reach to ground level.

 

[jschway]

I have a duel layer floor... The first layer for the chickens the second layer for some roasting pans to collect the poop. More pictures on my blog. http://www.stuffmedo.blogspot.com/

 

[speedy2020]

I found a picture which I think helps with my description. Our idea is to have the floor open and wire around the legs to enclose it. (The house will also be attached to a run.) Also, because we've decided to add a storage space to the house it will have two sides where the plywood walls will reach to ground level.

Your coop is about the same size as my box coop. I thought over and plan to go with 1/2"x1" hardware cloth because can be use for quail pen later if need. I do need to add a removable board underneath the coop to reduce cold draft during winter month. The bottom of the coop can be use to raise chicks the 1st 6 weeks.

 

[chickengarden]

That's awesome, Speedy. I hadn't thought about using different wire mesh to make the coop multipurpose for different birds. I keep thinking I will want quail one day...