Making coop changes

[Mamachic1967]

Thanks, I enjoyed your message! I guess it's the bottom bunk for these ladies!

Thanks I think it'll work out and they'll be happier.

 

[aart]

My husband says making changes to their coop upsets them and stresses them out?

I want to make them comfortable especially with winter coming. We have 2 rows of nesting boxes; 1 row high, the other lower. The low row of boxes haven't been used since the day my chcikens arrived. They're laying in the higher rows and sometimes in the corner on the straw/hay. I would like to remove the lower nesting boxes and put in another roost since more of them are roosting now and crowding each other. A chicken actually jumped and landed on another chicken tonight so she could get onto the roost.

My question is, by making alterations to the chicken coop, is is okay to do what I want without stressing them out?

I work on the coop all the time, they are usually just curious, just move slowly to avoid startles.
Keep anything that could hurt them if they pick it up and eat it, like screws, in your pocket...dropping screws in the bedding is the worst.

Putting a roost lower than nests is not a good idea, they like to roost as high as possible, they may end up roosting and pooping in nests.
Maybe remove upper row of nests and add additional roost space if you need it.
If your chickens are jumping on each other to get to the roost, another problem might needing attention.

Pics of your coop and roosts might allow someone to pinpoint the problem for a fix.

 

[Mamachic1967]

If I remove the lower nesting boxes then I could put a higher roost on that wall. I wouldn't put one lower. I also want to put in ramps too off to the side. I incuded a pic of my coop. One hen is laying in the row of boxes they like right now. The lower nesting boxes is the box to the right of the screenI also need to put in poop boards. The chicken that landed on the other just wanted on the roost. She was having a hrd time staying put so i grabbed her and put her on the roost and she stayed.

 

[Pork Pie]

If I remove the lower nesting boxes then I could put a higher roost on that wall. I wouldn't put one lower. I also want to put in ramps too off to the side. I incuded a pic of my coop. One hen is laying in the row of boxes they like right now. The lower nesting boxes is the box to the right of the screenI also need to put in poop boards. The chicken that landed on the other just wanted on the roost. She was having a hrd time staying put so i grabbed her and put her on the roost and she stayed.
You might be able to get away with adding a higher roosting pole to the one you already have, providing there is sufficient distance between the roosting poles (so those on the top roost don't poop on the ones on the lower roost) - i go for around 40-50 cm apart. May be easier to extend the distance of the existing roost from the wall and fitting a higher one? Just a thought...

 

[Mamachic1967]

I was thinking of adding a second higher roost above the existing one, but the roof slants there. Maybe if I do that and install a narrow ramp that might work?

 

[Pork Pie]

I was thinking of adding a second higher roost above the existing one, but the roof slants there. Maybe if I do that and install a narrow ramp that might work?

I was thinking of the higher roost being installed on your existing one - just nearer to the wall, i.e. towards the top of the triangle of wood that you have. A ramp would not be necessary as those wishing to roost higher up will simply use the lower one as a launchpad.

 

[Blooie]

We made major changes to our coop and run this summer. We took down one roost (we only had that one) that ran the entire length of the coop from north to south, removed the poop board, then put up two roosts running east to west. Previous to that change, we had 4 nest boxes on the south wall and one on the west wall. All the nests got moved to the west wall and one more was added. It significantly changed how the coop was laid out. The girls didn't miss a beat. They were in and out during the process and used the one existing nest on the west wall even though all of the other nests were outside on the ground. When we got it finished, they investigated and then they were content. It was almost like they were saying, "Thanks, we've been wondering when you were gonna fix the layout!"

Then we moved on to expanding the run. That was so funny! We had designed the run initially so that if we wanted to expand it all we had to do was take off the end panel on the south, add two more fence posts, arch one more cattle panel over, tie it in to the existing panel, and put the end panel back on. So we took off the end panel. It came off just as we planned - the end panel ended up laying on the ground with all of its chicken wire, hardware cloth skirt and apron still attached. The girls had a huge opening if they wanted to take advantage of it, but nope...they came right to the edge of the open wall and stopped dead, scratching and digging. Ken said, "Maybe this would go faster if we let them go out in the yard." So I clapped my hands and said, "Let's go out!" and those dopey girls hightailed it over to the opposite end of the run waiting for me to open the door! Silly chickens. But nothing we did bothered them.


Silly chickens - could have run right but they waited until I opened the door on the opposite side of the run and then dashed out.

 

[Mamachic1967]

I don't know if you can see it in the picture, but there's a notch 1/2 way about 7 inches from wall, up the triangle, that was where the higher roost was above the lower one. But they seemed too close together as the existing roost only comes out 15 inches from the wall. I think it would be too close. I guess I'll add a higher roost above the nesting boxes on the other side.

 

[Pork Pie]

I don't know if you can see it in the picture, but there's a notch 1/2 way about 7 inches from wall, up the triangle, that was where the higher roost was above the lower one. But they seemed too close together as the existing roost only comes out 15 inches from the wall. I think it would be too close. I guess I'll add a higher roost above the nesting boxes on the other side.

Ah yes, i can see the notch now you have pointed it out. Now you mention the dimensions as things are they may be too close. What about simply extending the lower roost so it is further from the wall and using the notch above for your higher roost? Nail longer bits of wood to the bottom of each triangle and attach the lower roost to that?

 

[Mamachic1967]

Wow, you did make a lot of changes, but it seemed to work. i've read about nesting boxes facing certain sides and that will affect how they lay, this could be why my ladies aren't using the ones along that wall.

Funny, yes, it does seem like they think thanks for making the changes, this works much better.

They are curious and tend to go in and out when we work in there, so I'm no longer worried about them stressing. Now just to find a solution about the boxes and roosts. I'm leaning heavily towards taking out the 4 lower run nesting boxes and putting in a roost instead if that wall is not what they like, there's no point in putting these boxes there, plus they could be sitting too low too.