Rural Gardening: Opinions and thoughts on coop flooring., 1 by Glenda_Michigan

Glenda_Michigan wrote:
Thanks Badseed. Always glad to share info.... :)

The little door is for the chickens to use, and the big door is MY working area. I do not allow the chickens inside my working area; I don't like to walk in chicken poop. Sometimes I check on the chickens before I leave home, when I'm wearing my "good" clothes, so it's nice to have a "clean" area to stand in. The picture below is taken from my working area. The two doors with wire insets, are the doors (to) the coop itself. The floor is 30" off the ground.... We came up with 30" because I am 5'3" and that height that makes it easy for me to reach inside the coop to refill the feeders, waterers, grab a chicken, etc. My coop is 4 feet deep (about as far as I can reach) and 8 feet wide, which is my only regret. I wish I had made it 4' deep x 12' or 14' wide. I could have used the extra room. But I have had up to 10 chickens at one time, and they did fine in those dimensions. (If) I remember correctly, my nesting boxes are 14" off the floor. They are separate boxes with plywood walls between each nest. Yes that is what the small hinged doors are - access doors into the (back) of the nesting boxes. I wanted separate doors so that I only have to deal with one chicken at a time, if they're setting on the nest.

Please forgive me if I'm giving you info you already know, but a great book that was a BIG help to me when I was getting started is "Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens". It answered just about every question I had.

If you have any other questions, send them my way. :)
~:> Glenda