extra roost bars

[Howard E]

BTW, if you have the bucket, you can skip the 3/4" pipe and hose. The nipples can screw directly into the bucket. There are heaters you can use to keep the bucket from freezing and if the water isn't frozen, the nipples should continue to work, even outside.

 

[Calin]

Thanks for the reply.
They are sexed 33 hens and 3 roosters.RIR's.
I'll try to level those bars first as you said ( they're probably 7 ft and 4 inch each) and also I'll try to see if I can come up with design to also have a droppings board under. The door opening for the run is kinda in the way.
For bedding I'll have pine shavings and I was thinking of deep litter but considering the numbers I don't know how effective will be.. Maybe in conjunction with a droppings board. I don't mind allocating some time every weekend or so just to aerate the bedding and maybe add more if needed.
Do you think I can get away without adding roost bars on top of the nesting boxes ? ( and yeah I cant move that... Would be a pain as I have the outside panel cut with a door to access the boxes etc)

 

[Howard E]

If you can be flexible and make changes on the fly, perhaps leave it all as is for now, but have a plan ready to go if you want to make changes. The droppings board being the obvious one. For that, I'd suggest something lite like 3/8" or 1/2" plywood or MDO, and glue something slick like Formica or perhaps a slick FRP panel. Something easy to clean. Same brackets you used for the shelving, but extend it out to catch what falls. Again, the wire beneath the roosts was included to keep the birds from walking on the droppings......smearing it around and soiling feet. That wire needs to be 1" x 2" or so.....something droppings will fall through so at least 1" openings.. Chicken wire might even do it.

My experience is that short of sex linked birds, sexed birds are not 100% accurate. Expect a few more males than 3. BTW, if these birds are just for eggs and no plan to raise chicks, you don't need any roosters at all. You could have this under 30 in no time.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I realize you are in Maine and to you the winters are cold and nasty. You’re not a chicken. Cold itself is not your enemy. A cold wind hitting them and a lack of ventilation can make cold you enemy, however. As long as they are protected from a cold breeze they could do OK sleeping in trees, just like the wild birds that overwinter. Their down coat really makes a big difference. As Howard said, a lack of ventilation can create frostbite conditions, even in temperatures near freezing, let alone what you are likely to see. I’m not sure how much ventilation you have in there, you may have enough, maybe not. But if you start to see frostbite, people further north of you have solved frostbite problems by providing more ventilation up high. Maybe something to remember this winter if you see problems.

Silkies can’t fly so you have to make special accommodations for them as far as roosts and nests. I don’t think you are getting Silkies so your chickens should be able to fly up to the roosts even if they are fairly high. People have used ladder roosts forever, they can and do work. The dominant ones will sleep up high and there is a chance you will have drama at bedtime as they sort that out. And there is the chance that some will move to your nests to sleep instead of taking the lowest roosts, especially if the nests are higher. My roosts are all the same height and I still have some knocking each other off as the dominant ones get to where they want to sleep. A little disruption then is not a big deal, they sort it out.

I’m not a believer in magic numbers as far as space goes. Over time I’ve seen recommendations of anything from 1 square foot per chicken to 15 square feet per chicken on this forum, sometimes additional run space is called for, sometimes not. (In my opinion, 1 square feet is ridiculous and 15 is way overkill.) I’m an advocate of providing as much room as you reasonably can, but there is just no one number that works for everyone. To me, the more I crowd them the more likely I’ll have to deal with behavior problems, the less flexibility I have to deal with problems, and the harder I have to work. Most of these things concern you and your comfort and stress levels more than the chickens.

You may be fine with the room you have, you may find you have problems. You said you have a covered run. If you can block off some of the sides as well, you can create an area in the run that blocks the wind and keeps snow from accumulating. That is quality space. One way chickens have learned to live together in a flock is in case of conflict, the weaker runs away from the stronger or just avoids the to start with. By having area in the coop as well as outside the coop you have areas they can get away and avoid. Just putting some plastic sheeting on the side of the run could be a huge benefit.

I assume yours will all be about the same age. That helps keep drama down a lot. Different maturity levels can add a lot of stress in a flock, especially if space is tight. But you also have at least three males coming. You may or may not have problems due to that. I always recommend you keep as few males as you can and still meet your goals. That’s not because you are guaranteed problems with more males, just that problems are more likely. Your odds of having problems with males goes up as the space available goes down. Often, when they mature, multiple roosters claim a certain territory and have their own harem so they can avoid each other and cut down on conflict. You are not going to have much room for them to do that. I suggest you have a plan B handy. With three dozen chickens a place to isolate a chicken on short notice can come in handy anyway. With a coop that small you don’t have much room or flexibility, but you might want to plan on a separate isolation pen or small coop out in the run. That way you are prepared.

There is little doubt in my mind that those shelves and even the buckets on the shelves will become prized roosting areas. You might want to make sure they can’t poop in those buckets or knock them over by trying to roost (or just perch up there during the day).

With that many chickens in that small space, especially in winter with snow on the ground, you will probably find poop management is where you will have to work harder. I like droppings boards under my roosts to collect the poop so I can get it out of the coop. In one area I don’t have a droppings board though, I use plastic bins I got from Walmart to set on the ground and collect the poop. I don’t use wire coverings though some people recommend them. Those plastic bins are pretty easy to just pick up and dump them. Just another idea.

As Howard said, plenty of people have done a lot worse than you and still been OK. I’m certainly not predicting disaster for you. You are tight enough you could have issues but maybe not. I do think adding some winterized room in your run to block wind and snow can help you a lot.

Good luck!

 

[Calin]

Thanks for the ideas. i can easily board half of the coop during winter if too much snow will drift in (coop is in pretty sheltered area surrounded by trees)
For the roost bars I will definitely set them all at the same height and i will try to add a 4th bar.
Height of the bars will be higher than the current highest bar and about an inch higher than highest
part of the plywood that makes the roof for the nest boxes (thats across the coop)



ventilation in the pictures above. i think its 978sq inch . i measured only the area thats actually open as they are sliding windows and half is always useless for air circulation.

i agree that the shelves will be tempting but they are 4ft off the floor. the only tricky one will be the one close to the roost bars. the 4th bar will go 9inch under shelf for 12inches long. total roost space not including the 12 cramped inches will be 328inch
i can put a piece of plywood fxed to the shelf on both sides that will be accessible from the roost bars.

what do you guys think about pdz? ive read that its quite effective and i could make a small platform under the roosts with raised edges and have pdz in there and just scoop once in while would i still need a net under the roosts?

Thanks for all the replies so far

 

[Leigti]

I use PDZ and I like it. I have a poop board about 4 inches under my roosts. Get the granular type, not the powder.
All my roosts are on one level and I think it works pretty well. You don't want any drafts on your chickens, enough to make their feathers ruffled. Not in the winter anyway. So put a bunch of been ventilation up high about a foot above their heads when they're on the roost.

 

[Little Fuzzy]

Four feet high shelf for a chicken is nothing. Mine were flying over my six foot fence and on top of my neighbor's roof till I clipped their wings. I think you might have chickens pecking each other with so little space. Are you going to free range during the day so they can spread out a little?

 

[Calin]

hmm and I thought they would never fly that high. You think even Rhode island reds would be that jumpy?

Yes I do plan to let them free range. Plenty of grass and woodzy area where they can dig around.
I also have an automatic door that I believe I can set to open 30 min before sunrise so they won't get too mad in there

 

[MeepBeep]

hmm and I thought they would never fly that high. You think even Rhode island reds would be that jumpy?

Yes I do plan to let them free range. Plenty of grass and woodzy area where they can dig around.
I also have an automatic door that I believe I can set to open 30 min before sunrise so they won't get too mad in there

4ft is nothing for a 'slim' chicken to jump, many chickens will respect a 4ft fence and rarely try to jump it (unless it has solid roosting point on top like a wood fence) but when it comes to roosting many will attempt to get to a 4ft height...

Plus don't forget they don't just jump vertical they can have horizontal movement in the jump as well, meaning they will likely hop up to the top roosting bar then use that as a launch point to get to hop/flutter to the shelves, especially the roosters...

 

[Dmontgomery]

hmm and I thought they would never fly that high. You think even Rhode island reds would be that jumpy?

Yes I do plan to let them free range. Plenty of grass and woodzy area where they can dig around.
I also have an automatic door that I believe I can set to open 30 min before sunrise so they won't get too mad in there

RIR on top of 6' tall run. Yes they can get that high.