Roost placement in small coop?

aart said:

I wouldn't go higher than 18" because of the small landing area available. 

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But if there is always 6 inches of bedding in the coop then a roost that is 24 inches from the floor will be 18 inches from the surface of the bedding. And if there is always 6 inches of bedding then a roost that is 18 inches from the floor will only have 12 inches of clearance under it.

Yes, the landing zone is small so you want the roost low. But if you make it too low then the birds won't use the space under it and it will be more likely that there will be birds crowding around in the landing zone when other birds are trying to get off the roost.

Here is my 4'x 4' x 4' coop for 4 medium size chickens. This is the typical internal layout that works really well for us based on all the inputs from BYC.

The roosting bar is 4' long, 4" in diameter, placed about 2'+ high, 12" away from the back wall, above the top of exterior nest boxes that sit at the floor level (to the left). If the roosting bar is too low or too close to the wall, the poop could back splash back to the birds, or slime the wall. Both are messy to clean up. The roof of this coop slopes from 4' high in the back to 5' high in the front, so there is ample of head room.

In front of the roosting bar, there is ample of room for the chickens to stage their jumps easily to access to and from the door. The insulated coop floor/draws have about 2" deep of pine shaving bedding. Such shallow bedding is made possible by the soft plastic flooring material underneath that is made up of insulated foam and corrugated plastic sheeting. Otherwise, the chickens could hurt their feet from hard landing.

Removable plastic poop boards are placed underneath the roosting bar,which help to keep the daily cleaning of the coop an easy task.The only thing I would change is to extend the poop board by 2" to capture more poop when the chickens are facing the wall at night.

Notice the windows next to the roosting bar? My chickens really enjoy the window views. You can tell by the poop piles. One of those window is facing the back fence, the other one is facing the enclosed run, so there is no direct draft blowing at the birds.

A thoughtful roost bar placement can make a difference in coop management and the well being of the chickens. Hope this picture helps you to visualize the placement and dimensions.

That's great, thanks yellowchicks