New coop roost question

[NCChickie]

Purchased plans and built my coop - the run was guess work but I'm happy with it all except the size of my roosts. The plans called for 1/2 inch dowels which I used. They look awfully small - would 2 inch dowels be better or should I go a differant rout all together - how far apart should the roost be apart - The coop will hold 13 hens and one 4 rooser.

Here are some photos

 

[Wishing4Wings]

Half inch dowels are way too small unless you are keeping pigeons!

The plans probably meant to call for 2" roosts. Dowels are fine, but kind of pricey. You could take a 2x2" and round off the edges a bit. If you have very cold winters, I've heard that people use flat roosts so the birds will sit on their feet to prevent frostbite. My coop uses tree branches with 2+" diameter that we got when the neighbor pruned his mulberry. The large fowl birds seem to prefer the largest (and highest) roosts. Allowing at least 18" between roosts will give them room to turn around and not poop on each other (again, for large fowl).

Your coop looks great!!!

 

[TurtlePowerTrav]

I have 2x4 turned on side so they have 4" to lay feet and completely cover them with their feathers.

 

[CraftyChicky]

Beautiful coop! Great job. Definitely 2" dowels. We recently built our own, and it called for the 2" dowels.

 

[weekendhomestea]

NCChickie,

You are going to need something bigger for them to grab on to. I like 2x2s or 2x3s.

http://weekendhomestead.net/posts/ways-to-make-a-chicken-perch/

-RDG

 

[maidenwolfx80]

Very nice coop

I also use 2x4's, I put a few natural branches in the run as perches and at a different sizes so they could choose and in the coop they also have 2 different sizes to choose from but at night they prefer the 2x4..

 

[NCChickie]

Thank you all - this is my first adventure with chickens and I'm already addicted and have learned so much from this forum!

Lisa

 

[maidenwolfx80]

I agree, this forum is so awesome, I like that there are so many different opinions and suggestions. It really helps to be able to see the different ways people solve the same problems. I have answered every question by searching and posting on here