I'm designing a coop adjacent to some paddock areas for 6-8 chickens or so. In the interest of hygiene and maintenance, I like the idea of a mesh bottom, but haven't found any examples online of people making that work -- almost all coops seem to have a wood bottom, which of course means the need to scrape poop on a regular basis. The climate is mild out here in NorCal, so temperature shouldn't be that much of an issue. Would be easy enough to have a slot under the floor for slipping in plywood in a pinch.
Presuming predators can be kept out from under the coop with some other fencing, are there any other reasons why a mesh bottom (say, 1/4" heavy galvanized screen) wouldn't work well? Any indications that walking on such a surface is bad for the birds?
