Does your chicken coop need a floor?
Having a chicken coop without a floor can come with many challenges, including infestations of mice and rats. Still, some chicken keepers swear by the dirt floor method, and have discovered numerous ways to deal with the inherent problems.
There are many reasons you may want a coop without a floor. Maybe you have access to a coop, or a building you want to convert into a coop, that has no floor, and you want to make it work. Maybe you’ve struggled with the floor you currently have, and wonder if you need it at all. Maybe you want to try the deep litter method, and you know that it works best on the bare ground. Or maybe you just want to keep things as simple and low-maintenance as possible.
Whatever the reason, you’re probably worried a dirt floor may not be healthy for your chickens or may be hard to clean. You want to be sure that your coop design keeps your hens healthy and happy.
So, does your chicken coop need a floor? Not all chicken coops need floors, particularly those that use the deep litter method, have soil that drains well, and are well-designed to keep out predators. However, many coops without floors allow easy access for rodents and burrowing predators, are difficult to clean, and add too much moisture to the coop.
In this article, you’ll learn the pros and cons of having a chicken coop without a floor, and you’ll learn some solutions for problems you may encounter.
If you want to learn more about what options you have for chicken coop floors, check out my article, 8 chicken coop floor options: The best flooring materials.
Before we jump in, I just want to be clear that I am not talking about summertime chicken tractors in this article. These are mobile coops that have no floors because they are moved to fresh grass every day. To learn more about these coops, check out my article, DIY A-Frame chicken coops: Fast, cheap, and easy to build.
In this article, I’m referring to stationary coops that have no floor.
In this article, you will learn:
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4 pros to chicken coops without floors
Chicken coops without floors are:
Lower in cost to build
Simpler to build
Cooler in warm weather
Ideal for the deep litter method
See more on the deep litter method below.
5 cons to chicken coops without floors:
Chicken coops without floors may:
Allow predators to burrow into the coop
Allow rodents to burrow into the coop
Become too moist, resulting in illness and/or frostbite in your chickens
Be incredibly difficult to clean
Be colder in the winter
See some solutions to these problems below.
Using the deep litter method on a dirt floor
The deep litter method (also called the deep bedding method) is used by many chicken keepers as a means of composting bedding and droppings. For this method, you need to use a thick layer of organic bedding in your coop, such as wood shavings or straw.
However, wood shavings are very likely TOXIC to your chickens, and I don’t recommend using them in any scenario. If you must use them, aspen is your safest choice. Straw is a much safer choice, although you do need to watch out for molds. See more about this in my articles:
For the deep litter method to work, you will need to continuously add bedding to the coop floor as needed (before ammonia build-up begins). You will also need to turn the bedding (or have the chickens turn the bedding) daily.
If done correctly, the bedding and chicken droppings will compost into a rich, fertile soil that you can use on your garden.
If you want to use the deep litter method in your coop, you will be most successful if your coop doesn’t have a floor. This is due to two reasons:
The bare earth contains microbes that are necessary for composting deep litter. These microbes will come out of the ground and into your litter.
The bare earth adds moisture to your litter. This moisture supports the microbes that are necessary for composting your litter.
You can still use the deep litter method if your chicken coop has a floor, but your bedding will not fully compost in the coop. You will need to clean the bedding out and let it finish composting on the bare ground.
If you are interested in the deep litter method on a bare floor, I highly recommend you read Harvey Ussery’s book, The Small-Scale Poultry Flock. Ussery is a veteran chicken keeper who has used the deep litter method for decades.
Solutions to the problems that come with having no chicken coop floor
How to stop burrowing predators
If you don’t have a chicken coop floor, you may have problems with burrowing predators, such as foxes, dogs, raccoons, and skunks. These predators can easily dig under your coop walls and into your coop, where they may happily kill all of your chickens. There are a couple of different ways you can prevent this.
Your best option is to dig a narrow, foot-deep hole around the perimeter of your coop, attach hardware cloth to the bottom of your coop and into the hole, and then fill in the hole. This way, any animal that tries to burrow under the coop will be blocked by the hardware cloth.
You may also bury metal flashers instead of hardware cloth.
Another option is to dig a hole around the perimeter of the coop that is 4-6 inches wide and a foot deep, and pour post hole cement into it. This will also provide a hard barrier to burrowing predators.
You may also want to consider using electric poultry netting around the coop. You can find poultry netting here on Amazon. The netting protects against many predators because they tend to touch their sensitive noses against it when they try to burrow underneath. The electric shock can be incredibly painful for them.
For everything you may want to know about poultry netting, I again recommend Harvey Ussery’s book, The Small-Scale Poultry Flock.
And for more help on how to keep predators out of your coop and run, check out Gail Damerow’s excellent book, What's Killing My Chickens?: The Poultry Predator Detective Manual.
How to stop burrowing rodents
Some of the methods described in the section above may help to reduce some rodent activity, but rodents will still likely be a problem for you.
You definitely want to keep rodents out of the coop because they can carry many diseases that can be fatal to your chickens. Some rodents may also bite your chickens during the night, and rats have been known to eat chicks.
If your chicken coop has no floor, the best way to prevent rodent activity is to never have food inside your coop. In The Small-Scale Poultry Flock, Harvey Ussery wrote that when he had feed in his coops:
When Ussery stopped feeding his chickens in his coops, he said that a few mice continued to get into his coops, “but they have never again approached biblical plague proportions.”
If you do end up with an infestation of mice or rats in your coop, I highly suggest you take a look at Cath Andrews’ blog, Raising Happy Chickens. Cath has a lot of experience with rodent infestations in her coop and has written several helpful articles on the topic. Click here for her guide on getting rid of rodents.
How to know if your coop will be too moist without a floor
In some regions, you will not be able to get away with having no floor in your chicken coop. If you live in an area that is prone to even minor flooding, you will need an elevated coop with a floor.
If you live in an area that has soil that doesn’t drain well, you definitely will need a floor for your coop. For example, I could never have a chicken coop without a floor because my soil is clay-rich. Despite the fact I live in a fairly arid region in southwest Idaho, even after a single brief rain, the soil here turns into a muddy mess with pools of water.
If I let this muddy mess be my coop floor, the chicken coop would be exposed to way too much moisture.
Moisture causes several problems, including:
The support of dangerous pathogens, such as molds and ammonia-producing bacteria
Increasing your chickens susceptibility to frostbite, should the temperature drop to freezing
A wet and, therefore, uncomfortable coop floor for your chickens.
Your chickens’ feet can get encased in mud, and if their feathers get wet, they will have a very hard time staying warm.
Similarly, if you are using bedding on your bare earth floor and it gets wet, your chicken coop will be at a high risk for the growth of dangerous mold and bacteria.
The bottom line is this: Do not consider a chicken coop without a floor, unless you have sandy soil that drains very well.
How to clean a dirt floor
A major problem with having a coop with no floor is that the chicken droppings can be difficult to remove. If you’re not using bedding, the droppings will get trampled by the chickens and they will get packed down. Unlike with chicken coops that have floors, you won’t be able to just scrape or sweep the debris out.
If your chickens will be spending a lot of time in the coop, you will likely need to have a floor in the coop, or you will need to use bedding. You will have such a hard time keeping the floor clean otherwise.
If, on the other hand, you have free range chickens, who only use the coop at night, you might be able to get away with a bare floor. For more on this topic, check out my article, What is chicken coop bedding and do you need it?
Some chicken keepers who have coops without floors have said that they rake the droppings out.
Others have suggested making sure the floor is slightly sloped toward the door. This way, you can spray the droppings out with a hose. The water and droppings should drain down the slope and out of the coop door. This would be a terrible idea in the winter, however. You don’t want to add any moisture to your coop.
However, if you are using bedding on your dirt floor, the difficulty of cleaning becomes much less of a problem. You will remove most of the droppings with the bedding.
If you are using the deep litter method correctly, then you don’t have to worry about cleaning droppings at all. The droppings and litter will compost to a beautiful soil.
Will a coop with no floor be too cold in the winter?
If your coop is well-ventilated, it’s going to be cold in there no matter what. If you don’t have a coop floor, you may want to consider using bedding in the winter. Organic bedding has insulating properties, and it may help to keep your coop slightly warmer.
I, however, prefer inorganic bedding (sand) as the science suggests it’s healthier for your chickens. However, you do run the risk of sand freezing in the winter if you’re putting it on the bare ground, not a good thing for your chickens.
For more on this topic, see my articles:
The deep bedding method may also help. The decomposition of the bedding will release some warmth, but still typically not enough to heat a well-ventilated coop.
If you have cold winters, consider heating the coop with safe heating options. I use Sweeter Heaters from Amazon above the roosting bars in my coops (a godsend for my chickens), and I use radiant heaters for added warmth.
Have more questions about chicken coops?
There are many qualities you’ll need for a great chicken coop. Check out my free training, Chicken coops 101: Design your chickens' dream home, for all the specifics on exactly what your chicken coop needs, including detailed measurements.
And if you’re interested in simply purchasing a high-quality prebuilt coop, I highly recommend Rita Marie’s Chicken Coops.
Check out my review of my Rita Marie’s chicken coop, The BEST luxury coop you’ll ever buy: Spoil your chickens with Rita Marie’s.