How many roosts?

[RevRico]

How many roost bars should I put in my coop?

I'm trying to get everything squared away as I'm painting today, and right now I have a single roost bar. It will be about 15"above the floor and is 6 feet long. I feel like I should have a second one another foot higher, but I'm not sure.

Should be 6 to 8 hens living in the 4x6 coop, and they should only be in there to sleep at night.

I say 6 to 8 birds, let me explain. I have 4 pullets and 4 straight run, I'm expecting 50/50 with the straight run.

2 barred rocks and 2 RIRs I know to be female, but the straight runs are light Brahma and silverlight green eggers. I suspect the Brahma will be the biggest birds I have.

Should one 6 foot roost be enough or should I add in another?

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'm guessing it is an elevated coop an your nests are external so the nests are below the roost. Hopefully you will not get poop in water or feed from the roost. Just trying to imagine what it looks like and your restrictions.

Some people will tell you that you can get by with 7" per bird on the roosts, and some people do. Others use a magic number of 15" per bird minimum. In my opinion, even if you wind up with 8 hens, a six foot roost should be enough. I know some are big breeds but they would all be hens the same age and well integrated, usually they can sleep pretty tightly on a roost. And they should have room to get up there.

I don't know what the inside of that coop looks like or where your pop door, nests, or access openings are. If you put another 6' roost you will need to separate the roosts by 12" horizontally whether they are the same level or separated vertically. That does not leave you much floor space that isn't collecting poop from the roosts. I don't think you need any more roost space, but could you put one across a shorter end? If I were doing that I would keep it the same level as the longer one if I could.

I know you don't want to hear this and you have what you have, but this is an example of why I prefer larger coops. You have less flexibility to deal with things as they come up. It can get really complicated to deal with things if you are squeezed tight for space. You can deal with this and I don't think it is much of an issue. I think you'll be OK without getting rid of some if they all turn out to be pullets. But if you do run into an issue it gets harder.

 

[RevRico]

Well I'm sticking with the single roost. Regardless, they'll have more room than they would at Purdues farm, so they can be happy or they can suck it up.

Keep in mind this will start with 3 inches of bedding and get deeper as needed until I have to clean out. After their 2 week lock down inside, there will be no food or water inside the coop to have to worry about, and began water nipples and no spill feeders, shouldn't really need to worry.

During lockdown the food and water will be just inside the door. Where I'm standing to take the picture is where the nest boxes will get attached when the time comes. I'm probably going to build them soon, but at 2 weeks old, I don't need to worry about them for a while.