Roosts

[mommy of two]

How high off the ground should a roost be? I have seen some up as high as a persons head and some a couple feet off the ground?

 

[cdavis76]

that depends really on how many chickens you have that will be roosting....but the bottom roost should be at least a foot or two of the ground or bottom of coop and then put about 12-16 inches between each roost bar as you go up

 

[Fred's Hens]

A chicken will roost pretty high up, given a chance. But, there are no rules here.

Except mine. LOL I have large fowl, heavy hens. I do NOT want them jumping down from high roosts. I keep the "top rung" no higher than 3 feet. Just my experience and preference.

 

[Ridgerunner]

The only rule I have is to have the roosts higher than anywhere else you don’t want them to roost, especially the nests. Chickens like to roost as high as they can and they poop a lot overnight. I’d prefer them to not be pooping in the nests.

Keeping that in mind, I suggest you make them as low as you reasonably can. Partly for Fred’s reason and partly because the higher you go the more coop space they need to fly down in the morning without banging into things.

So my suggestion is about a foot higher than the nests, whatever that is in your coop.