Placing entrance in middle of coop floor

[Here chickie chickie!]

Our coop is almost done but we're concerned about where we've placed the entrance door for the chickens. The coop is raised off of the ground and there'll be a ramp for the chickens. The entrance will be a square hole that's been cut out in the middle of the coop floor...does that make sense or is it more advisable to put it at one end? We're feeling as though it will be easy for the chickens to get up into the coop this way but we're worried we haven't thought of every possible scenario that would make the entrance difficult.
Thanks in advance for sharing your knowledge!

 

[j71]

Hmmm....

My coop is a 6x8 wooden shed....the door to exit/enter into/out of the 'run' is dead center, back of coop......no one seems to mind at all.....smack dab in da middle

 

[Andi]

Mine is on the floor of the raised coop also. I have mine on the side as apposed to in the middle. The reason was so the full length of the ramp would be under the coop completely. We had a difficult time positioning the ramp so the girls could get up it and in, so we removed it. Before we could get the new one positioned the girls started flying straight up to the opening without hesitation. Because it's not going to be a pleasant job putting the ramp in under the coop and the girls don't mind no ramp, we haven't hurried getting it in. Actually, its been over a year and its still not in. Oh, the coop is 2' off the ground. I suppose the ramp will be a good idea as the girls get older.

 

[Here chickie chickie!]

Thanks for the input. What are the rough dimensions of the hole for the entrance?

 

[elmo]

How do you keep shavings or other bedding from falling down through a hole in the floor? I've always wondered about that.

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

You'll lose floor space doing it that way, and bedding and droppings will fall out

I'd put the door in a wall

 

[erinlee]

I put my entrance door on the floor as well, although mine is not in the middle but along the back wall. I did it this way so that they could exit into the small run section below. I put a "frame" around it if you will of 2x2's that help to keep the shavings from falling through the floor. So far it is working quite well and the girls have no problems getting up or down. Here is a picture you can kind of see the door in.

 

[patandchickens]

Here chickie chickie! :

The entrance will be a square hole that's been cut out in the middle of the coop floor...does that make sense or is it more advisable to put it at one end?

I do not really believe it makes a big difference whether it's at the end or the middle of the floor.

However, is it really truly 100% necessary for you to go the hole-in-the-floor route? You lose quite a LOT of floorspace that way (remember chickens are not elevators, they need horizontal room to go up/down at an *angle*) and you will lose quite a lot of BEDDING too, which matters not only in the sense of $ but also in the sense that if you do not remove the lost bedding from the run at intervals you are likely to get a mud/odor problem unless you are in a very fortunate climate or on very helpful type of soil.

Honestly, bedding loss aside (and no height of lip will entirely prevent it), just the loss-of-floorspace thing is serious enough IMO to argue strongly against using this kind of popdoor except in the extremely rare circumstance that no other option is physically possible.

I would urge you to SERIOUSLY consider a way of making a traditional popdoor in the WALL, it just works a lot better.

GOod luck, have fun,

Pat​