Coop roost concern

[Echotraveler]

Hey guys im new to this forum and joined ti learn from your insight. Tigh now im concerned that my run can handdle 4 chickens but my coop might just be able to house 3.

The coops roost is aprox 30" and if i extend it to the 40" i want id be putting the hens over the door and poop all over the ladder. So i thought of putting a long roost outside as down here in PR we have pretty good climate year round.

Heres a couple of photos.

Any suggestion will be greatly appreciated. I cant sleep thinking about this issue.

 

[jetdog]

Could you drop the floor down seems like a lot of wasted room under the coop itself, if you lowered the floor down about a foot you would be giving them more room. Change the entrance from the bottom to the side then you don't have to worry about the poop on the ramp.

 

[Echotraveler]

My thought exactly. But im gonna take some time to do this as i don't have the tools right now.


Took some measures: the coop has 38" inside and the droppings board and roost are 25" to the door on the floor. And 17" from the wall to the nest.

Would it be bad for me to put a roost on the run? And let some chichens sleep inside and some outside?

 

[henless]

My first thought was who was going to have to sleep in the lower section? Chickens like to roost as high as they can. There may be a lot of squabbling over who gets to sleep upstairs and who doesn't.

Where are your nesting boxes in the coop? Are they the first two sections in the last pic? If so, my concern would be that the chickens that don't fit on the roost, will just roost in the nest or on the board separating the nests from the rest of the coop. Roosting in nests will result in poopy eggs.

If those are the nests, what you could so is eliminate one of the nest, the one on the right, then you can turn the roost around and make it across the back facing the pop door. One nest is plenty for 4-5 hens. Later, if you increase the coop size, you can always build two external nests then the chicks will have that whole floor to walk around in giving them a bit more room for bad weather.

Later, when chicken math hits, you can always turn this whole thing into a coop, and just build them a larger run.

 

[Echotraveler]

Thnx THANX THANX!! This sounds like a plan for me!! Those 2 nests are huge!

 

[henless]

What size is your coop?

When you redo the roost, I would use a 2x4, wide side up, for them to roost on. Gives them more support and they can cover their feet this winter preventing frostbite.

 

[Echotraveler]

thnx henless.

I wont have much problem with winter. I live in San Juan, Puerto Rico our winters arent cold at all. The summer is my concern, thankfully my coop is under the shade of a big tree.

A coworker who is a fighting cock breeder, is telling me down here they usually let the chickens sleep in a roost on the run. And to let the nest house be just for egg laying. Different opinion. Lol

About the roost being a 2" piece of wood that seems interesting as i used a broom stick lol.

But im on the look out for tree branches to put something ornamental.

 

[Echotraveler]

What size is your coop?

40" wide x 7ft long X 4ft high on the run

 

[TalkALittle]

Does your area have any predators that might reach their fingers or claws through the wire and grab at the birds? I've read where other members' birds were pulled piece by piece right through hardware cloth. If you do end up putting a roost in the run, put up a plywood shield at the ends so that nothing can reach through and grab at a bird on the roost.

 

[Echotraveler]

I dont think there's many predators around here. Im on a closed rooftop in a city building. I gues a cat could sneek in or maybe a dog bit im not sure they count in this scenario. But a shield on the roost edge seems like a good idea. Im getting many ideas now. Im much calm now thnx to your posts.