Chicken height?

[YellowChicken]

In the coop I am going to use the height is only 28" or so. I haven't seen any info about heights of chickens -I have RIR and black sex link. How high should I place the nestboxes? Perch?
Thanks

 

[Judy]

I would not raise the nest boxes at all in a coop that size, as almost any height may seem higher than the roost, which may cause them to sleep in them. I wouldn't put the roost more than about 6" off the floor. If you will have a rooster, that still may not give him enough head room.

 

[Baymule]

That sure seems like a low ceiling, why only 28"? Can you make it any taller?

 

[YellowChicken]

The coop is a large plastic hexagonal shaped dog house, 32 x 28 x 28. The top half snaps in in front and back. I only have a couple of hens about 4 wks old and thought I could use it at least for awhile. I have the chicks in a cardboard brooder in my home right now, but the rate they are growing/flying they will have to be moved pretty soon.

 

[galanie]

Yep, you'll get tired of that dog house pretty quick. I wouldn't worry since you'll be wanting a new one soon enough. A box on the floor is plenty good enough for a nest box in something that size. Give them a roost, even if it's only a 2x4 laid edgewise on the ground and you're done.

 

[YellowChicken]

Thanks all. Actually they won't be laying for awhile, may'be 3 months or more, so I'll just put a few inches of pine shavings in the bottom with the perch. Should they have water and feed inside the coop? I'm going to use a cattle panel covered with hardware cloth for the run and a plywood door for the doghouse hinged using small bolts/nuts. Hopefully the plastic will support the bolts/nuts. We do have raccoons, possum, fox, coyote, feral cats and dumped dogs here. I'm on an acreage about a half mile from lake Texoma, a large lake.

 

[galanie]

They won't need food and water inside the doghouse if you let them out every morning without fail by an hour or less after sunrise. So far your plan looks good, especially if you're including the top when you say you're covering the run.

 

[Baymule]

You can give the chicks toilet paper tubes for them to play with. They grow fast don't they? lol Don't forget to lay wire on the ground around the run to discourage predators that would dig under the run to get in. You're on the right track!!

 

[YellowChicken]

Yes it will be completely covered with half inch hardware cloth or one inch welded wire. Also bottom with 2 inch welded wire. The raccoons are especially troublesome here and chewed thru a three quarter inch wood floor in our storage area to get to the horse feed that was in a metal garbage can they were able to open. I trapped several and a possum I moved across the lake. But some others were trap savvy. We have about every kind of critter around here except bear or mountain lions. We've even had a few cottonmouths in the house on occasion. I would really like to have electric fencing, but the wife is super sensitive to electric shock. One other concern is ventilation: the doghouse only has the door. With only 2 chickens it may not be a big problem if I leave the door open during the day?