Wire or solid flooring?

[mlheran]

I'm in the process of building a coop for my ever-growing chicks and can't go any further until I decide what to use for the flooring.

I live in Sonoma County in a rural valley; our temps reach highs of 105º and lows of 25º-30º. The extremes last no more than a few days or weeks, and most of the time our nights are between 45º-65º.

This site (http://www.winecountrycoops.com/index.html) is based in my area and initally I was going to build my coop very similar to theirs -raised, with wire flooring. In winter I'd lay a tarp or plywood on the floor with shavings, in warm weather just use the wire. But I'm concerned about persistent critters (I did have a rabbit in a wire-bottomed hutch loose a leg to a predator when I was younger), the wear on the chicken's feet, and the draftiness. Plus, if i went with a narrow wire grid to keep out critters, it'd practically be "solid" anyway with their droppings, wouldn't it? I will clean the coop or course, but wire seems rather labor intensive.

I'm leaning towards a solid floor with deep shavings now. My plans have plenty of summer ventilation, so the shavings shouldn't be too warm.

The footprint of the coop is roughly 3 1/2' x 8' and will have three nestboxes, and have an attached 16' x 8' run. I plan to house 8-10 hens.

Any thoughts?


Oh and here are the girls (and a roo?!) saying, "Quick gawkin' and get buildin'!"

 

[Llysse]

What BEAUTIFUL birds!!!!

I understand that wire can be very hard on the birds feet. I'd recommend a solid floor, which would also keep out the drafts, to boot.

 

[justusnak]

I agree....solid floor. There was another post on here about a roo...kept on a wire floor, and after so long lost all its toes. How painfull that must have been for the poor roo. Solid floors are easy to clean...keep drafts out, and predators out, some what. Good luck on the coop, and I cant waite to see the pics!

 

[prariechiken]

No wire. Can lead to bumblefoot, as well as loss of toes from frostbite and damage from the wire. Chickens don't like wire floors. Had to keep an injured bird in an old rabbit hutch left by the previous owner until she healed, and she would perch in her feed dish instead of standing on the wire...

 

[Rooster01]

Wire is hard on their feet. Solid floors are much better for them.

 

[mlheran]

Well the consensus has spoken! Solid floors it is.

I'm thinking of covering the floor and walls with linoleum scraps to help with scrubbing down the cleaning out. Should make for a very cozy and clean coop!

I had always thought wire would be too hard on their feet, but when I saw that company's uber-fancy coop with wire floors I was almost swayed by the "convenience." But I should have just gone with my gut feeling; chickens need a proper floor.

Thank you so much everyone!!

 

[AccidentalFarm]

Quote:
Aha! So that's why my girl is doing that! I thought she'd be okay-the floor of this temp. cage is wire (large mesh), but sitting on a flat surface, so I thought she'd be okay with it temporarily. Luckily, she's only got a week to go before she's back out. I just thought she must realllly love the bowl i gave her with sand and chunks of dirt and grass so much that she wanted to sleep in it after her 'dustbaths'.

 

[prariechiken]

Yep, that little hen gets "restless" even now if you walk towards that pen when you hold her, even though it has been rebuilt as a brooder with a solid floor. Just shows how uncomfy that thing was on her feets....

 

[2mnypets]

We are currently in the process of building our chicken coop. It will be a solid floor and the frame is built roughly 18 inches off the ground to try to keep the rodent and predator numbers down (hopefully). Flooring and walls will be insulated. I never could understand why people would want to put their animals in cages with wire floors. My canary doesn't even have a wire floor. Good luck to you, and I too thought about linoleum floor or the likes to make clean up easier and a bit more sterile (it's the nurse in me).

 

[bobbieguyette]

when we built the big coop last year (used a new 10x14 ft shed raised from the ground a new wood floor and the attached pen I did use wire and put alot of dirt on it you need wire here have too many racoons around and didnt want to chance it they dont mind the wire as long as theres alot of dirt over it and safer for them too