Height for roosts

[Aunt Angus]

Height of roosts can depend on size of coop, they need room to fly/jump down without crashing into something, or be provided functional ramps.
Here's some tips on heights:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/coop-stack-up-how-high-stuff-works-well.73427/
Might also depend on how you plan to manage manure, I use poop boards.
[/USER] .

Question: @aart How high up are your poop boards? I am thinking of raising mine to make sure there is plenty of room underneath for my girls to wander. However, they only really sleep in their coop, so it might be irrelevant.

 

[aart]

Question: @aart How high up are your poop boards? I am thinking of raising mine to make sure there is plenty of room underneath for my girls to wander. However, they only really sleep in their coop, so it might be irrelevant.

About 36"
Nests and boards are set at heights comfortable for me, but works for chicken too.

 

[Aunt Angus]

About 36"
Nests and boards are set at heights comfortable for me, but works for chicken too.

Thanks. Yeah, I think I will raise my poop boards. It's easy to do, and I think my Brahma will thank me for it.

 

[aart]

I think my Brahma will thank me for it.

You'll notice I have ramps for access,
I put those in for the 'Bumbling Brahmas' I had at the time.
Same goes for changing the nest perch from a 2x2 to a 2x4.

 

[rosemarythyme]

What kind of brackets do you use? I am loving this idea of removable ones

Another idea for brackets (only works with a round roost like a branch, I'd have to check the diameter it's made for but I think ideally it's 2 7/8" or something). These were made for fence posts. The birds of course learned to not sit on the bracket itself:


I didn't put in poop boards (some days I wish I did). The roost heights are... maybe 28" and 42?" One of my birds can't fly (she's "special") but she can usually make it to the lower roost by jumping. The rest of the flock generally sleeps on the upper bar. There's about 6, maybe 7 feet of clearance for them to make their morning landing from the upper bar.

 

[Wee blue]

I don't really know the rights and wrongs of roost height, but what I will say is that we still use the same system my grandfather used many, many years ago and it has always worked for us. Our chickens live in a walk-in shed and inside is essentially a long table with a ridged ramp for them to walk up on to it. On the table are two milk crates, one either end, with the perch resting on top of them. The perch itself is actually a pair of perches but joined at both ends... it looks a bit like someone has laid a ladder down but taken out all the rungs except the top and bottom if you see what I mean.

Chickens of all shapes and sizes have been OK with this set up and they can all get up there easily. They just walk up the ramp and then hop up onto a crate and walk along or jump up onto the perch itself. Some of them cosy up with King Olaf whilst others spread out. Since I have been more involved in the chickens I have been grateful for the set-up, as I can just remove the perches and crates for cleaning, spraying for mites etc. It's not fancy but it is convenient.

ETA: our nesting boxes are at floor height so significantly lower than the perches. The table format also means that the area of floor underneath the perches stays clear.

I’d love to see a picture of your granddads setup. Is that possible?
I just raised my lowest (from 3 inches off the floor to 7) as I felt sorry for the girl on the bottom. Others stagger up. Tonight she is on the floor in the corner?! Do they not like change?

 

[HollyWoozle]

Sorry for the slow reply. Here are a few pics (since I just tidied it!). It’s pretty old and lots of cobwebs (which I leave most of the time to help with the flies) and I feel bad sometimes when I see some of the slick, super clean set ups people have on here. But the chickens have a lot of space and seem to like the ramps to the perches. Plus I like to use the same system that my Grandad did 60+ years ago and more.

It just has a dirt floor which I usually put a thin layer of something over (wood pellets in this case) and I scrape off the boards under the perches once a week usually and check for mites. Most of our hens sleep on the main perch but a few go on top of the nesting boxes which is why I added some smaller perches there too.

We currently have 15 hens and there is also a second, conjoined shed with its own door but a small cut out in the wall for them to go between the two. That one is mostly used for storage or they dust bathe on the floor in there but that does also have a few metres of perch space by a window. We use it mostly for new chickens or they perch there when it’s raining in the daytime and watch out the window!

Since my earlier post in this thread I raised the nesting boxes off the floor for the most part.

 

[springvalley123]

Do they not like change?

boy do they ever NOT like change!