Discourage chickens from roosting in coop door

[patandchickens]

Well there you go... firstly, many chickens really prefer to roost "al fresco", so you are automatically working against that; and secondly, they may have trouble seeing to get UP to the roost or may be getting chased off by the other chickens (not uncommon Polish problem)

I don't know how well ventilated or well-windowed your coop is, since I can't see the whole thing, but unless the parts that aren't shown are *greatly* different from what is shown, I would suggest that adding a big ol' window and buncha extra ventilation might help. Possibly also a secondary roost, at a lower level. And then manually put the polish in there every evening til they clue in.

It is really much much safer for the chickens to have the popdoor closed at night. Chickenwire DOES NOT keep out predators. I would hate for you to go out there one morning and find piles of bloody feathers. Closing the popdoor would automatically solve the roosting-in-opening problem.

Best of luck,

Pat

 

[kenyabob]

I had considered making a v-shaped object out of some spare wood. I was going to place it over the door's bottom ledge. My thought was they couldn't perch in the middle of the v, and it would be too rocky/uncomfortable to perch on the front of our the back. I think I've seen the V shape before to discourage pigeons from roosting.

 

[kenyabob]

It sounds like people are big proponents of a door.

As far as the ventilation is concerned, there is ventilation at the bottom, but no ventilation at the ceiling. The poultry netting below them that allows the poop to fall to the run floor for easy raking/removal is the source of most of the air that gets into the coop itself.

 

[Judy]

Quote:
This is, I believe, the problem. When I first saw the pic, I thought, they want the fresh air. Patandchickens is GOOD at coops. And you definitely need to have high ventilation in any coop, and lots of it, so the humidity can get out as it will be warm and rising.

I'd recommend you go back to post #11 and click on the ventilation page linked from there.

 

[monathequeen]

Kenyabob,
Surely this is a covered outside run right ?
I see the fence and chicken wire but not the top of this outside area. If it's NOT covered, and you have that popdoor open at night, you'll be sorry .....If it's a covered area, your chickens are ok to roost wherever they please. Mine roost anywhere and everywhere inside the coop. I have a couple of Perch's and a couple of bales of straw inside and each hen roost in different spots every night. They also roost on the top of the doorway which has a 6 ince ledge. I finally had to close that off because they were fighting over that spot...silly birds...but don't we love them ?

 

[patandchickens]

Adding high-up ventilation (which will also provide better LIGHT) would probably help make the chickens comfier in there.

Quote:
Not with that chickenwire I see. Pretty much any sort of predator is likely to be able to rip their way in. I would totally not trust it at night!

Pat

 

[~*Sweet Cheeks*~]

My chickens would fight over who got to sit my the window area that was closest to the pop door and people door. So I took down the old roost with poop board and created 2 roosts at the same level. There is now room for everyone at the same level.

I put one roost board down lower to serve as a step up for the silkies that don't fly as well.

In your coop, can you add another roost so you have two running down the full length of the center of the coop? It looks like there isn't room on the roost that running lengthwise with the coop and only room on the shorter elbow part and that's why the polish aren't roosting there because they would be facing a different direction.

 

[kenyabob]

Quote:
Not with that chickenwire I see. Pretty much any sort of predator is likely to be able to rip their way in. I would totally not trust it at night!

Pat

Here is an outside shot of the coop. Its essentially an eight food deep, ten foot long coop/run on a concrete slab in my backyard. The backyard is fenced in. I am not super concerned about predators — but being extra careful never hurt. Their are two large windows inside the back of coop, so light is rarely a problem, but I think I could add some vents to the top without too much trouble. The vents would simply open into a space between the coop top and the tin roof.

 

[kenyabob]

~*Sweet Cheeks*~ :

I put one roost board down lower to serve as a step up for the silkies that don't fly as well.

In your coop, can you add another roost so you have two running down the full length of the center of the coop? It looks like there isn't room on the roost that running lengthwise with the coop and only room on the shorter elbow part and that's why the polish aren't roosting there because they would be facing a different direction.

The photo might be misleading. There is a lot of room left on the roost for the two extra chickens. I've considered putting a roost lower as well, but then I would have to dismantle part of the top roost to ensure that the lower chickens didn't get pooped on during the night.​