Raised Coop floor

[Dsk]

Hubby has been building Chix Fort Knox. It’s a raised coop. Floor is wood, and we had decided to put vinyl down. He says to me today... “what about concrete?” What say ye to a concrete floor in a RAISED coop? Not sitting on what would be a slab, but putting a concrete floor in a raised coop. Personally, I think he’s out of his mind, and just thinking WAYYYY too much, but maybe I’m wrong and there’s a benefit. Picture of the coop (red) next to temporary digs.

 

[DobieLover]

Hubby has been building Chix Fort Knox. It’s a raised coop. Floor is wood, and we had decided to put vinyl down. He says to me today... “what about concrete?” What day ye to a concrete floor in a RAISED coop? Not sitting on what would be a slab, but putting a concrete floor in a raised coop. Personally, I think he’s out of his mind, and just thinking WAYYYY too much, but maybe I’m wrong and there’s a benefit. Picture of the coop (red) next to temporary digs.

He's nuts.
Too much weight.
Too hard on the legs jumping off the roost.
Concrete absorbs odors.
Just use painted plywood (I did this with 2 coats of Behr Porch & Floor paint and it's holding up just fine) or put down vinyl.

 

[Tre3hugger]

Agree. I have Behr livestock safe barn paint on my floor with semi deep litter and it works great.

 

[B-Goock]

Id agree hard on them jumping down from the roost.

Other factors would be holding moisture in the concrete. Never want moisture in the coop. Concrete also would hold temperature. What I mean is summer it would absorb the heat of the day keeping coop Temps high late into the evening. Then winter it would hold the cold even after the sun comes out and warms up. This I know cause I work in a plant. Hot or cold it stays.

 

[Dsk]

He’s already over-engineered the structure while under-thinking conveniences. See that tiny cut out under the window and vent on the side? That’s my clean-out door. Lol. Not sure how I’m gonna squeeze in there so I guess I just better get a really looooong rake/shovel/broom. He lined the nest boxes with metal. Yes. Metal. Oh my. He’s been building this for YEARS (yes really) with zero carpentry or chicken farming experience. Refused to let me buy a ore-fab or hire someone to finish the job. He’s a very busy tech-guy who grew up in an apartment. I’m trying my best to offer suggestions, without hurting his ego, but
I just want it finished before the chickens we got IN MARCH and the babies that just hatched freeze to death without proper shelter. LAY THE DAMN VINYL and finish the dang thing already!!!

 

[DobieLover]

He’s already over-engineered the structure while under-thinking conveniences. See that tiny cut out under the window and vent on the side? That’s my clean-out door. Lol. Not sure how I’m gonna squeeze in there so I guess I just better get a really looooong rake/shovel/broom. He lined the nest boxes with metal. Yes. Metal. Oh my. He’s been building this for YEARS (yes really) with zero carpentry or chicken farming experience. Refused to let me buy a ore-fab or hire someone to finish the job. He’s a very busy tech-guy who grew up in an apartment. I’m trying my best to offer suggestions, without hurting his ego, but
I just want it finished before the chickens we got IN MARCH and the babies that just hatched freeze to death without proper shelter. LAY THE DAMN VINYL and finish the dang thing already!!!

Metal in the nest box is a bad idea. It will conduct cold. That will be great if you want frozen eggs.
How are the edges of the metal covered? Chickens have an uncanny knack of getting their toes, etc caught on things and if that thing was the edge of metal...
You need to have enough of a door to really reach inside there to retrieve birds when the need arises and it will. The rear of the coop should open up completely for full access.
It also looks to be lacking in ventilation.
I do agree with your hubby about the 'no pre-fab coop' though. Those things are horrible.
It wouldn't hurt to have him read up on coop design in the coop and run forum or read some of the higher rated articles about the features a properly designed coop should have.

 

[krlind01]

All the responses so far are spot on. I couldn't add more. Other than from one over engineerer to another, check out my over Engineered build article for lessons I learned:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/a-little-over-budget-but-worth-every-penny.76116/

 

[Dsk]

Metal in the nest box is a bad idea. It will conduct cold. That will be great if you want frozen eggs.
How are the edges of the metal covered? Chickens have an uncanny knack of getting their toes, etc caught on things and if that thing was the edge of metal...
You need to have enough of a door to really reach inside there to retrieve birds when the need arises and it will. The rear of the coop should open up completely for full access.
It also looks to be lacking in ventilation.
I do agree with your hubby about the 'no pre-fab coop' though. Those things are horrible.
It wouldn't hurt to have him read up on coop design in the coop and run forum or read some of the higher rated articles about the features a properly designed coop should have.

oh, don’t worry. I’ll be either pulling up the metal (it’s just from one of those rolls of sheet metal) or putting in nest box liner pads... Something.

Ive already suggested that the whole side needs to be the clean-out door, but no dice. He’ll have to figure out how to make that happen after something goes wrong and he has to help me crawl in there. Lol.

I think ventilation is good, actually. You can’t see it all in the picture. It’s open (but covered with mesh) underneath the eaves of the roof and one of those white squares is a vent with a matching one on the opposite side.

 

[cmom]

When we built our coops I made a design of how I wanted them. DH decided how they were going to be built. In our youth he has built some commercial fishing boats but it's not the same as a chicken coop. To keep the peace and avoid arguments I just let him go. At least my coops would get built. As the years have past there are still things I wished we would have done but make them work. I have both raised coops with wood floors and some coops that have the ground as the floor. I painted the wood floors and have had no issues. This was shortly after this coop was built. The birds in them are Red Sex-Links. I was working on a breeding project at that time.

 

[aart]

He’ll have to figure out how to make that happen after something goes wrong and he has to help me crawl in there. Lol.

Make him crawl in there, now.....that'll change his tune.