Do I really need a ramp?

[gabby3535]

Or............................how about if you built a platform at about 1/2 the distance from the ground to the 'loft'.....
then have a chicken ladder from the ground to the platform......and another ladder from the platform to the loft?





_______loft___________
_
_
_
__platform_________
_
_
_
_

 

[foxinachickenhouse]

Could you use one side of an old stepladder? They could hop up the rungs. They might be able to manage the flat steps on the way down? Just an idea.

 

[sillybirds]

I did like gabby has suggested. I made a platform about half the distance up. They just hop up onto this and then up to the roosts. Some of the chunkier girls like to hop on the 5 gallon bucket that the waterer's in to make it even easier to get up. It helps to have a few inches of litter in the coop to soften the jumps down, again, especially for the chunkier girls, like the Light (not light weight

) Brahma's.

Here's a picture (the intermediate step is over on the back left of the picture, and the roosts are above the white trays, out of the picture):

 

[chics in the sun]

Thanks so much for all the great input! They do actually "fly" down from there when I put them up there (except the leghorn, who goes up and down on her own), but I don't want them to get hurt, so I will build a ramp. I'll have to tell the BF he was right, dang it!
I realized after I went to bed last night that once the "expansion" is finished, I can run a ramp-with-a-platform like gabby's nice illustration straight down from the entrance of the roost to a platform infront of the door, then sideways into the expansion It is being built on the right side of the coop, starting at the front edge, 5 x 5, with nesting boxes in the corner. The expansion is 2 and 1/2 feet high, so that should be plenty of room. It won't be in the way too much when I go into the coop or clean.

 

[PineappleMama]

I was worried about heat more than cold myself. I designed a four sided coop, with an 'open' HC floor... one side is two pieces, the bottom hinges up (eye hooks rule) so I can clean easily. The nest box is attached to the coop, but it sticks out and has a separate door for access.

Then in the 'aviary' part of things there's a roost tree... 4x4 post with 2x4 perches ala shelf brackets in case it's an uber warm night and they feel like sleeping outside. Mostly though they use those when they want to feel tall.

 

[chics in the sun]

They are so funny with wanting to feel tall. Twice now mine have flown up and perched on my fence, looking all proud of themselves, then been too scared to fly down! I'm going to put a second roost in the bottom, open part, too. I had stuck that brooder cage in there as a transition to the big-girl coop, but now they all love roosting on top of it. I will take it out and put a real roost in before it getts destroyed. Someone on here started a thread about how coops are never really finished........ so true!