Parallel vs Single Roosts and how many is too many?

[RiddleMe]

I've been doing a lot of BYC reading on roosts, but haven't found the answer to this. What is the maximum number of parallel roosts people have used successfully? Would 3 parallel roosts, 8-foot long, spaced 18' apart and 3 feet high, with a "step" roost to help them get up there, cause traffic flow issues? I'm thinking locating the roosts on one wall over a poop pit would make cleaning easier vs individual roosts along 2 walls. Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens actually shows 8 parallel roosts in it's coop design section, I just wanted to hear if anyone on here has successfully used more than 2 parallel roosts.

Details: 12-18 LF chickens, so looking for 20 linear feet minimum, probably a 12x8 coop (it might actually be 10x20).

 

[elmo]

Consider also how you will get under the roost area for poop boards or to rake out litter filled droppings. If you stack three roosts parallel each one 18 inches apart, and the first one is 18 inches from the wall, that's 4 1/2 feet in total depth. That's a pretty big chunk of floor space, and you'd have to be able to get all the way to the back under there for cleaning.

How about a single roost running "L" shaped all along the long wall and one of the shorter walls? That would give you about 20 feet of roost if you build the smaller coop you're considering, and it still leaves most of your floor space open and available for use. It's also very easy to build droppings boards under the roosts in this kind of setup and access them for cleaning.

I have this kind of setup in my coop. I used shelf brackets to support the roost board, and I covered the tops of the shelf brackets with boards to provide additional roost space. I'm finding my chickens really like roosting on these parts because they get to roost right next to the wall and only have to squabble with another chicken on one side.

 

[patandchickens]

To me the biggest knock against more than just 2 parallel roosts is that it gets significantly difficult to reach all the chickens if you want to take them off the roost at night (or examine them on the roost), which I not-infrequently do because it is EVER so mcuh easier than chasing the buggers around in daytime and then losing track of who you've dealt with and who you haven't.

If you don't expect you'll ever want to handle them while roosting, it's not as much of an issue of course. But if you decide to use a droppings board, and they do have a lot of advantages, it is also far easier to clean it off if it's narrow i.e. just one or at most two parallel roosts. Otherwise you have to use a hoe or other long-handled tool, or have something removable, so you don't have to lean across 3-4' of pooey board to get the rear portions

If you are not going to have more than 18 chickens then really you'd be QUITE fine with just two 8'-long roosts if you did the 12x8 building, or a single 20'-long roost if you did the 10x20 building. A foot of linear roost space per chicken is generally PLENTY, they won't use half of it anyhow, will huddle together in one or more 'clumps', you just want enough room that if they want to space themselves out from a neighbor they can.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[CopperCT]

Quote:
I have the L shaped roosts as well for 11 large chcickens. They are 5.5' on the short side and about 7.5' on the long side. They are about 3 feet from the the floor with 16" wide poop boards underneath. Although I put the boards a little too close to the roosts so that scraping them gets my sleeves too close to the poopy roosts for comfort (I'll be lowering them in the spring) the set up works well. The chickens have plenty of space and the height is comfortable for them to reach and for me to clean daily. The width is just right so I can clean them quickly with a large dust pan and scraper easily. I would think having more than one or two parallel roosts in a row would make cleaning more difficult than it needs to be as Elmo points out. Good luck with your set up.

 

[Chiefs Mess]

Due to the space I had to deal with hubby made me a ladder type roost. He put hinges on it attached to the wall leaning so the chickens can jump up easily. When I cleaned the coop I lifted the roost which had an eye hook and attached it to the ceiling. There was five rungs.

 

[catdaddy66]

I have 12 layers and used 2 parallel roosts staggered as you have suggested. These have worked very well, and three of the same isn't too many. It should work out well given the dimensions of your coop (the bigger, the better!).

voila`!

 

[RiddleMe]

Thanks everyone! I was thinking just having one poop pit to rake out, with either sand or just linoleum underneath and an exterior access door, would be easier/quicker to clean than a 20 linear feet of poop boards under single roosts. But it sounds like they're about equal based on peoples input, and the poop boards won't cost me floor space the way a poop pit would.

 

[Liamm_1]

Quote:
If the poop boards are easily accesible, you just walk along and scrape the poop into a dustpan or whatever. Much easier than scooping them off the floor bedding

 

[Liamm_1]

Quote:
You need to get that roof fixed, lol

 

[cottage19]

We had a two step roost when we originally built the coop. That lasted about two weeks. Once we caught on to the fact that EVERYONE wanted to be on the higher roost, we moved the lower roost up and now have two parallel roosts, a wide (but not too wide to clean) poop board and 7 very happy hens who don't seem to care which roost they are on as long as they're on the sme level with their coop mates.