Raised Coops Question...

[wvchickenhouse]

Would someone please tell me why some coops are on "legs" about a foot off the ground or something and some are not? I'm in the process of designing a new coop and I'm searching ideas... Thanks!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I put all mine on legs for a few reasons. During rainy season there's little ground that isn't standing water or soggy.
An elevated coop, if you have an access door for mucking out the manure/shavings, you can roll a cart under it and rake everyi\ hing into the cart or at least not bend over so far.
Best of all, in the heat of summer it is the coolest place for the chickens to hang out. It also stays dry enough that it's the only place they can take a dustbath in winter.

 

[Judy]

If you do this, you might keep in mind that sooner or later you will have to retrieve something from under there -- an egg, a sick or broody hen, etc.

 

[buffs only]

I live in Georgia and our summers get hot, my coop is about two feet off the ground and in the mid day heat you'll always fine my hens up under the house in the cool shade that the elevated house provides. That's the number one benefit of the raised coop here in the hot south that I see.

Buffs Only

 

[NovaAman]

I am in Michigan. My coop is raised about 2.5 feet off the ground. I have a 4x8 coop. The bottom has an access door, and is completely enclosed with cloth and the bottom against the ground has wire. My coop has and access hole to this area for the chickens to go down into. I do it like this for one reason alone... So, if I do not get out early enough, they can still come out of the coop. I also hang the food under there to keep the mess out of the coop thru the warm months. Also have water under there. I use a long rake from both ends of the under run to clean it out, or I just plug in the leaf blower if I am feeliing super lazy. Now this time of year, the bottom is glassed in on one side to stop the snow and as a protected winter run off the other side so the chooks have somewhere to hang out if they don't want to go in the snow, but don't want to be in the coop. So far though, snow as not been a problem for them, once they realised it wasn't gonna hurt them. LOL. Well, anyway, Thats pretty much why mine is up, so they can go outside at anytime in the morning and wait for me to let them in the yard. Some days I don't get out till 10 am, and they'd like me to let them out more like 7:30 am as soon as the sun is out.

 

[JackE]

The main reason mine is raised, is to NOT give mice, rats or other pests a nice secure/hidden place to set up housekeeping. Raise the coop and the undesiriables have no place to hide.
Jack

 

[auto5man]

My initial reasons were... 1) clean out easier on the back. 2) really liked the look of raised coop better (in the small to medium size coop pictures I looked at to get ideas for my small backyard flock of six)

 

[kuntrygirl]

My coops are raised 2 - 3 feet off the ground for the following reasons:

1. Provides extra space for my animals to walk under to get out of the rain.
2. Provides shade for them to go under during those hot Louisiana days.
3. Allows me to place my long chicken yard feeders under when it rains.
4. No varmints (mice, etc) can hide and live.

 

[kvmommy]

I heard some silkies wont use a ramp to a raised coop...is that true? I'm designing my coop for silkies and can't decide if the raised is going to work.

 

[TheJuan-n-Only]

I have limited space since I'm in the city, so I opted for a raised coop. Now I notice that the girls go down there to nap and to get away from the heat or the rain when we have "those Florida rains". I also put the nest boxes down there since it seem more "secluded"...so far rhey have all laid their eggs in there!