8x30 American Coop (Carolina Coops) build - pix heavy

[sourland]

Good morning fowl peeps...

The ladder from the roost to the run has traditional steps like any ladder - here's a pix:


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I'm guessing it will take a while for them to figure that out.

 

[aart]

The ladder from the roost to the run has traditional steps like any ladder - here's a pix:

Not the best for chickens.
Too steep for one thing.
A flat board set at less than 40° off horizontal with cleats at 4-6" spacing works well.

 

[John Canfield]

Not the best for chickens.
Too steep for one thing.
A flat board set at less than 40° off horizontal with cleats at 4-6" spacing works well.

At some point they will be able to fly enough to avoid most of the steps, at any rate the girls will have to deal with the ladder. The lavender I grabbed and placed in the run yesterday figured out how to return to the roost.

I do appreciate your advice though.

 

[NatJ]

At some point they will be able to fly enough to avoid most of the steps, at any rate the girls will have to deal with the ladder.

That door does not look very big, so they will need to sit somewhere and fold their wings before they can walk through it (especially once they are bigger.) An adult chicken with their wings spread to fly is often 3 feet wide.

I would suggest a bigger space right at the top of the ladder, to be a landing pad (or shelf or perch or platform or whatever you want to call it.) That would also let them walk out and look before flying down, which might make them feel more comfortable about going in and out.

 

[John Canfield]

That's an excellent idea!

The entire coop design has been refined over the years by Matt at Carolina Coops so I'm going trust that everything is mostly optimal.

 

[3KillerBs]

The ability to use the ladder will depend on the breed.

The Brahma in my avatar can't fly more than about 18" off the ground -- more of a wing-assisted leap than actual flight. She'd never manage that ladder.

The California White would scorn it and fly.

 

[John Canfield]

Our silky might not be able to fly very much either but we will find out all of that in the coming weeks.

 

[John Canfield]

Here's a side view of the ladder, I measured the angle at about 50 degrees. Next pix is my network switch on a platform, unfortunately the switch (Ubiquity) isn't rated for an outdoor environment so no telling how long it will last in a humid environment.

We did have a bit of progress yesterday, one lavender americana made it to the 2nd ladder step, maybe today it will be the 3rd step .

The ladder from the roost. In the background is a 50 gallon water tank and the drinker bar.

Platform for my network switch. The gray box is to pick off power for an overhead light.

 

[Iluveggers]

If you want to lower the angle of the ladder, you could put a cinder block under the bottom of it, and it will flatten the angle a bit!

 

[John Canfield]

Yes, that's a good idea if some of the girls have problems going up and down. The bottom of the ladder legs is sitting on a 6x6 because the coop itself sits on 6x6 timbers so I did accommodate that situation.