pour concrete floor or leave the dirt?

[jdesq1]

My chicks are 2 weeks old today, I have been converting our old horse shed into their coop and it looks good. After reading about so many losses due to predators I am getting really nervous about moving them out there in a few weeks. I have the coop sealed pretty good and have buried some mesh wire around the perimeter. But still it's a dirt floor. Am I being paranoid or do I have to build a Fort Knox to protect the girls? I do live in the country and there are different species of wildlife around. The base is 4 x 6s and is partially buried with the above said wire buried around. Everything else is solid, what do you experts think?

Jeff

 

[gryeyes]

If the ground is dry inside the coop and will stay dry when it rains, a dirt floor is better for utilizing a Deep Litter Method. You just put in three or four inches of pine shavings and the chickens will keep it stirred up - except for, perhaps, the area under their roosts. That you'll have to fluff up with a rake yourself, or remove the poop. (I rake it up and add more shavings.)

Then just keep adding fresh litter on top of the old litter now and then.

Just my opinion.

 

[jdesq1]

Okay, I"ll try again, my base is made of 6x6 treated timbers buried to the top with dirt. How about if I line the outside of the coop with 16x16x2" patio blocks. Do you think that would be enough of a deterence for any predators?

 

[nayeli]

I'm doing a concrete floor for my duck coop, I would rather have fort knox then dead animals!