Pophole survey- do your chickens go through a "hole in the wall"?

[Beau coop]

Do your chickens exit your hen house from a pophole cut into the floor of your hen house or do they come out through "a hole in the wall?"

I am considering a pophole in the floor of my new coop to stop the rain from coming in- at least I think this would help.

How do you decide on how big the hole in the floor should be? The chicken must fit, yes, but they have to walk down the ramp. How do I figure out the size of the hole so they don't hit their chicken heads? Or will they "duck?"

 

[teach1rusl]

Side door leading out to a little porch area, which keeps the rain out for me...

But mine is a walk-in, not elevated.

 

[gryeyes]

In my first coop, which was an A-Frame, they exited a hole in the floor, down a long ramp. Oddly enough, I've only seen them go UP that ramp and there's no ducking involved. Obviously they get down, and out, but I haven't a clue whether they duck or not!

I did make the hole a rather longish rectangle, though, because I knew they'd need head space coming up that ramp. Hmmmmm.

 

[LovinMyHensInNC!]

I tried the hole in the ground but we get too much rain and the hole flooded from a high water table.

Now I use a hole in the wall. It has an overhang so rain doesn't come in. Works great.

 

[chuckzoo]

Hole in the wall. I feel hole in the bottom you loose space in the coop. My hole in the wall is protected from the rain with ultraclear heavy duty plastic.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

The hole in the wall gang lives here. They do have a breakfast nook on the second floor, with windows on two sides. It's also where the lookouts watch for anyone coming. It has a ramp through the floor and the opening is more of a long rectangle than a square. You can make a paper or cardboard template of the profile of a chicken, to figure out how big it needs to be. It will vary a bit, depending on how steep the ramp is, as well as the size of the chickens. A less steep ramp needs a longer hole than a steeper ramp. I think twice as long as wide is a good place to start.

One thing to consider with the opening in the floor, is how you are going to secure the chickens at night. Are you going to use a sliding door on the outside? The ramp would be in the way of a hinged door. Or are you going to make a run that's predator proof? I think a door in the wall is easier to lock at night. You also might want to put a little edge around it, to keep litter from falling out the hole.

To keep rain and snow from blowing in the door, we always have a solid roof of some type over that area of the run. It also makes a nice little sheltered area for the chickens on rainy or snowy days. Even a little roof like a little shelf over the pop hole door will keep a lot of rain out.

 

[gryeyes]

Quote:
The ramp to the ground below IS the "door" to the hole. I have a wire attached to the end of the ramp, drawn up through a hole in the floor, and I pull up the ramp to close off the hole in the floor, then secure the wire tightly. There's a carabiner in the "pull end" of the wire. I also have raised edging around the hole to help keep the bedding from being kicked downstairs. Some still goes down there, but that just adds to the nice dry earth on the ground underneath the housing section. The chickens like it as dust bath material, scratching in it, etc.

For my A-Frame, the bottom section is enclosed with hardware cloth on two and a half sides of the downstairs pen; the rest is solid wood. There's a door in with a latch and a lock on it in one of the solid wooden walls. So that's another level of security a predator would have to pass just to get to the ramp-covered hole in the floor.

 

[rancher hicks]

got any pics of your coop? Pleeeeessssseee

 

[Peep_Show]

Thank you, Gryeyes! I had spent the afternoon pondering the very same thing of possibly a coop hatch in the floor of my "tower" coop...and I totally get your method. Brilliant! I would possibly put a lip on the underside, too, of the hole and hinge the ramp (which could be nearly any length) upon that, run a set of hardware eyes on the bottom side of the floor to the outside of the pen on a raised fenced pen. That way it could be pulled up flush and really tight.

Thank you for solving my dilemma!

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

My floor pop door.