Ventilation & predators

[emorems0]

Working through a coop plan that incorporates pallets for the sides & bottom of the coop. My pallets have a spacing of about 2 inches between the slats. I was thinking of leaving these open through the summer for air flow and ventilation, but will that amount of gap be enough to let predators in? I'm sure it would be fine to keep raccoons, fox, coyote, neighboring dogs, feral cats, etc. out, but are there smaller predators that I'm not thinking of that could get in and do damage if I left those 2-inch wide gaps open through the summer?

Also, I should put a piece of plywood over the floor, right? I wouldn't want chickens to get their feet stuck in the cracks and injure themselves and I need to keep the floor covered in some kind of litter too... is there any reason to leave it open (other than the cost of more plywood?)?

Thanks in advance, I'm looking forward to building our first coop and plan to share the plans assuming it actually comes to fruition

Melissa

 

[Kelsie2290]

With the bottom leaving the spacing, can you clean / rake underneath, some people do have the bottoms of their coops wire to clean that way. If you can't get under it you are going to have a hard time keeping it clean, so would vote plywood etc on bottom..
Can you hardware cloth over the slats to leave them for ventilation but keep predators out? Do you have mink/weasels in the area? Rats, squirrels, wild birds might be other problems.

 

[emorems0]

The coop will be about 2 feet off the ground, my original thought was to leave an open bottom for cleaning, but then I worried about them getting their feet stuck in the gaps and wondered how to keep litter in there without it just falling through... I read that having wire on the bottom would be hard on their feet?

I'm not sure if we have weasels around here, but I'm leaning toward yes. Our property backs up to the woods, so I feel like I need to be prepared for anything. I had planned on putting proper siding on it (plywood or similar) for the winter, maybe stuffing some straw inside the pallets for extra insulation, but it can get quite hot in the summer and I figured it would be best to leave the solid walls off for max air-flow. I suppose I could put some hardware cloth around it, that shouldn't affect my ability to layer some plywood on top come winter. What size mesh is best? I was pricing hardware mesh for the run (daytime only) and was thinking of using the 2-inch stuff... would the 1-inch mesh size be safer?

 

[Nocila]

In some areas, weasels are a big problem, so personally, I'd probably put some chicken wire in those holes, so they can still get ventilation, but won't be at risk. For those holes, the smaller the mesh, the better, as weasels can get into really small spaces.

Also, I don't know what your price range is, but you could put a cement floor in, that way, you can clean the floor easily, it won't hurt the bird's feet, and predators can't get through.

 

[emorems0]

Thank you for all the advice so far, I am definitely thinking that hardware mesh (with the 1" mesh size) is the way to go to cover the spaces in the pallet walls. Never would have thought of that!

As for the floor, I guess I'm still undecided. I think I'm going to need to look at some other coops to get an idea of flooring options. If I do decide on a solid floor, I'll need to increase the size of my access door to make cleaning it easier since I won't be able to just sweep it through the cracks to the ground below (I think I'm leaning toward a solid floor). I do like concrete as an option, but it won't work with this coop since it's about 2ft off the ground and needs to be mobile (we might be moving this summer).

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Only 1/2 inch hardware cloth will keep out rats and weasels, which kill chickens.