Door and roost questions

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Marygerl

Marygerl

Chirping
Feb 24, 2016
37
3
59
Woburn, Massachusetts
We are finishing up designing a 4X6 coop. What size access door would you recommend. the height of the coop goes from 6.5 at the front to 5.5 in the back (this includes a 2ft base).I initially was planning on a 2.5'X2.5', would that be large enough or should I go to 3X3?,

I want to run roost the length of the coop, but not have it attach to both side walls (due to the access door). Should I build a "stand" for the end that will not be attachedI also plan on having another 1-2 roosts above the long roost, going perpendicular. These will go front to back and can be attached to the walls. Can you have too many roosts?

We are getting 6- 6 week old pullets (3 buff orps and 3 black australorps, just to give you an idea of how big they will be fully grown and how much roosting space I will need.

Thanks!
 
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Marygerl said:
Can you have too many roosts?



Thanks!
Click to expand...
I would plan on 6 inches of roosting space per bird. You can give them enough roosts for 10 times their number, and you will probably find that they all want on the same roost. I have 2 6' long roosts and 13 birds. The preferred roost is on the left side, but only 3 1/2 feet of that roost is used most of the time. They'd rather balance on top of each other than use a roost or a part of the roost they don't like for some reason.

The problem I can see with roosts that crisscross is that the lower roosts can get pooed on, and the lower birds can get pooed on making a mess. Better to set them up so that can't happen.
 
wamtazlady said:
Quote: Tho they might sleep on a 6" pattern, they need more than that to get settled in.....
......roosting time can be pretty chaotic....and in summer they will likely spread out more.
That's why the rule of thumb(a good one, IMO) is 12" of roost length per bird.

The access door(I assume you mean access for the keeper, not the birds) should be big enough so you can reach every corner of coop easily with both hands at once.
Click to expand...
 
Summer is when my girls were using 3 1/2 ft of one roost for 13 of them. I never could figure out why they would want to be so close together when it was so hot. They are chickens and don't always do what we think they should do.
 
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I'm thinking of having the roost bar attached to the back wall of the coop about 6-8' from it and about 6" off the floor. We can also attach a 2nd one on the front wall above the nesting boxes. I have a 36"X24" slider window that we will be installing, we can attach the 2nd roost at window height so they can look out with supports on either side of the window. I'm really getting excited to start building!!
 
Marygerl said:
I'm thinking of having the roost bar attached to the back wall of the coop about 6-8' from it and about 6" off the floor. We can also attach a 2nd one on the front wall above the nesting boxes. I have a 36"X24" slider window that we will be installing, we can attach the 2nd roost at window height so they can look out with supports on either side of the window. I'm really getting excited to start building!!
Click to expand...
Roost 6" off the floor?

Here's my theory on the 'stack up' aspect to coop design:
Bottom of pop door should be about 8" above floor so bedding doesn't get dragged out of coop.
Nice to have bottom of nests about 18" above bedding to allow use of that floor space under them(doesn't count if your nests are mounted on outside of coop).
Roosts should be about 12" higher than nests so birds won't roost(sleep) in nests and poop in them, if you use poop boards under roosts it will also 'stretch' your floor space.
Upper venting should be as high as possible above roosts so no strong drafts hit roosts in winter...and hot/moist air and ammonia can rise and exit coop.
 

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