Base of coop/run??

[smurfaroo]

Hi All,

My hubby and I are having a dispute and I wanted other peoples opinions....

We are getting our first chickens at home and cannot agree on how to base the coop.

My hubby wants the coop to be positioned in our 'wild' area of the garden, directly on the ground and regularly move the coop/run to avoid the ground becoming sour.

I want the coop/run also in the wild area, but based on slabs or concrete with a relatively deep layer of sand/wood chippings/wood shavings in the run to allow for natural behaviours, but will also allow for cleaning. I have worked with chickens for some time and we have 6 coops/runs that are moved around in a field, but the ground is never 'clean' even though the majority of faeces are collected. I feel that in terms of hygiene and therefore disease prevention, the slabs/concrete are a better option - especially with a one year old daughter running around!

What do you think?

[OverWyreGrower]

I'm assuming your chickens are going to be kept in the run as opposed to having free-run of your garden?

If so, I'd go with the slabs/concrete option... mainly cos chickens demolish grass/land faster than it can grow.... when we moved our coop around originally, by winter we were left with a garden full of bare patches and no chance of them being anything but mud until the spring/summer.....

[Flummery]

We have slabs. Apart from the ease of cleaning out, it can't be dug into by foxes (or they'll think the sky's falling in!)

[Dazy]

I didn't have the option of moving my run around in my small garden but my set up works for me and has been in place for over two years. The run has a roof and is built on a slabbed edge (fox protection), mud in the middle covered with a thick layer of woodchip, I replace this 2 or 3 times a year, when I put down garden lime to sweeten the earth. General maintainence is simply raking it over with a little bio dri, jet washing perches etc and giving the wood a spray with poultry shield, only have 4 (Healthy, touch wood) chickens in there. Think they maybe a little pampered though, cause if they're out FR and there's a spot of rain they pile back into the run until it stops

[chris]

Concrete base for my run. The coop base is just plywood covered with newspaper.

I've used concrete as I know there's foxes around - they won't be able to dig through it (it's ~150mm deep).

[Hilary B]

Is this coop intended to be on legs? It reduces rat-risk if you can easily see underneath (one less place for them to hide) and also makes the floor less likely to rot if it isn't in direct contact with the ground (whether earth or concrete).
If the idea includes letting the hens have free range when supervised, I'd go for the fixed concreted run idea. If they will mainly be confined to run, and if you really can move it often enough, the earth-base might do. If you start with 'move it around' system, your hubby might soon realise the advantages of the other approach, and it wouldn't be that difficult to change to concrete later.....

[smurfaroo]

Thank you for all your replies. Yes, coop is on legs with large run attached as hens cannot be free range (lovely family of foxes in the field behind the hedge!).

Will convince hubby that my idea is the right one - of course! Maybe a bottle of vino or two will do the trick.....

Again, thanks