Slatted Floors?

[JacobMaxwell]

Does anybody have a chicken house with a slatted floor? how does this work? How far apart are the slats?

 

[BunkyB]

Slatted floor? Do you mean spaces between the boards. If that is what you are asking then the answer should be no. I would be awful leary of hens catching their nails between slats and suffering injuries, broken legs even. I would not recommend that.

If I was right about the space between boards and nothing underneath, a definite no no if you want to avoid a rat and or mouse problem. Rats will find all the feed that drops down, even miniscule little crumbs and see a food source there. He will invite his friends and next thing you know they WILL gnaw their way through the wood to reach the mother load. Be super careful... Plain old plywood floor is best. A non slippery but sturdy board.

Hope I was wrong but the slatted floor, made me wince.. Good luck Steve

 

[JacobMaxwell]

Slatted floor? Do you mean spaces between the boards. If that is what you are asking then the answer should be no. I would be awful leary of hens catching their nails between slats and suffering injuries, broken legs even. I would not recommend that.

If I was right about the space between boards and nothing underneath, a definite no no if you want to avoid a rat and or mouse problem. Rats will find all the feed that drops down, even miniscule little crumbs and see a food source there. He will invite his friends and next thing you know they WILL gnaw their way through the wood to reach the mother load. Be super careful... Plain old plywood floor is best. A non slippery but sturdy board.

Hope I was wrong but the slatted floor, made me wince.. Good luck Steve

I mean a floor made out of mesh or wooden strips about an inch apart so that the pooh falls through to a tray below.

 

[4 the Birds]

I mean a floor made out of mesh or wooden strips about an inch apart so that the pooh falls through to a tray below.

I am not a fan of any design with a mesh floor or type of floor that allows poop to fall down below. Floor openings are not good for the chickens feet and not all the poop will fall down below. Not only that but some runny poo and big poo clumps will remain on the flooring so that will need to be removed and cleaned often.

How about a solid floor with bedding? My coop flooring is wood planking with 1/8" spacing between the planks to dain liquids. The floor is covered with an ample supply of pine bark. This keeps the floor dry and works well.

 

[JacobMaxwell]

I am not a fan of any design with a mesh floor or type of floor that allows poop to fall down below. Floor openings are not good for the chickens feet and not all the poop will fall down below. Not only that but some runny poo and big poo clumps will remain on the flooring so that will need to be removed and cleaned often.

How about a solid floor with bedding? My coop flooring is wood planking with 1/8" spacing between the planks to dain liquids. The floor is covered with an ample supply of pine bark. This keeps the floor dry and works well.

I already use bedding, I was just wondering about this option. I guess I'll just stay with my current system.

 

[colburg]

I already use bedding, I was just wondering about this option. I guess I'll just stay with my current system.

Not so fast there Jacob.

I use two types of expanded metal and love it. One is an old cotton stripper basket. Very small mesh, maybe 1/2".


The floor of the other coop is 3/4" #13 expanded metal which has diamond holes of .688" x 1.782". I haven't cleaned a single piece of poop since I put them in there in September. Here's a pic. There is a little buildup on it now where the 2x4's are underneath for support.

 

[QuietPony]

I wonder how this would work with pine shavings on top of the wire. I was planning on doing DLM in the coop.
The birds would have access to the area underneath the coop so they could scratch around in whatever falls through.
But I have been struggling with the final planning stages of planning our coop. I am now toying with this idea... lol
Does chicken planning ever end? If I keep this up, I will never get it built!