Increasing vertical space utilization for my setup, seeking suggestions

[SarahLadd]

Hi everyone,

This is my coop and run. I'm looking at building something that would give my girls utility of the unused vertical space in the run pictured for the rest of late fall until next spring. I'm a bad engineer so I was hoping for some input on improving the space I have for my girls, and boy. I feel like they need more ways to distance themselves from one another. Especially him. He's still a cockerel and the girls aren't fond of his promiscuity.

One wing is clipped on my flock, they are free range, except for this time of year when the hawks are hungry and desperate. Any added space will need to have some kind of intermediate step or stair.

My lavender girls are molting hard so scuze the feathers

Thank you all for any input.

 

[aart]

You could add a couple roosts.
But really you need a bigger run space, that can be protected from your winters.
What does the inside of coop look like?

 

[Sally PB]

This is my chicknic table. I think they'd use it more if there were some edges on the flat areas, the better for gripping with their feet.

This was a ladder up to the roost, but they didn't use it. So I put it in the run and they do.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Roosts, platforms, a "jungle gym," etc. (ignore the flooding lol).

 

[3KillerBs]

How about a straw bale and a pallet up on blocks?

Chickens don't really stack for storage so vertical space is primarily for our convenience, not theirs.

The one "second story" area that my chickens actually do use in my setup is the top of the broody breaker -- which is a dog crate with it's tray bungeed to the top as a roof. I put a chunk of scrap 4x4 on it to make a perch and find that some of them will hang out on top of it and some of them will go inside it.

 

[SarahLadd]

I will grab pics of inside. This is a doodle of a "chicken tree" kind of like a cat tree. Portable, paintable, hose-able, fits through people door. My watermaal are 400g birds and my d'anvers are 800g birds, so the perches don't need to be extra wide or need to support a heavy weight. Inside the coop I have a swing and I think I would remove the swing and make something like this to go inside and outside. What do you think?

 

[Jessatiel]

I added a big branch to my run… it’s my hens’ favorite place to roost. Here, Miss Banshee is in the coveted “fork.”

 

[perkolator]

IMG_3874.jpg

• perkolator
• Jun 29, 2022
• 2

Newly reconfigured branches inside coop - much easier for chickens to get around

Keep in mind once I added all those branches/roosts, the run became the preferred sleeping location. Fine with me, everything is secure. Wish I knew before, then I wouldn't have overbuilt the coop, lol.

Personally I'd be getting some mulch or other bedding over that concrete; can't imagine that hard surface feels so great on their feet

 

[Jessatiel]

IMG_3874.jpg

• perkolator
• Jun 29, 2022
• 2

Newly reconfigured branches inside coop - much easier for chickens to get around

Keep in mind once I added all those branches/roosts, the run became the preferred sleeping location. Fine with me, everything is secure. Wish I knew before, then I wouldn't have overbuilt the coop, lol.

Personally I'd be getting some mulch or other bedding over that concrete; can't imagine that hard surface feels so great on their feet

That’s a very cool roosting arrangement!

 

[perkolator]

That’s a very cool roosting arrangement!

Thanks! I've never been up there myself, but the chickens seem to enjoy it