Please help! How much room needed between roost and ceiling?

[4myHennyPenny]

Haven't had an answer to this question yet, and I can't find the answer in any of my books.

For standard hens (3 or 4 of them), how much headroom do I need to leave between the roost and the ceiling in the coop? Roost is 48" long and on the east end of the coop where the roof is gabled. I'm wondering if we can move the roost up to 24" off the floor, which would leave 12" of headroom between the roost and ceiling at the far ends, and 30" at the middle. Is this plenty of room, or should I drop the roost down a little to provide more?

Thanks

 

[Alleyoops25]

I would put in several roosts at different hieghts, Start low and then work it up. I dont think what your planning would cause to much problem, as long as it isn't to hard for them to get up there.

 

[4myHennyPenny]

Quote:
Thanks for the reply, Alleyoops25. We'll only have the 3 to 4 hens, and our coop is very small. We don't really have the space to do the ladder system that I've seen others use. But since the roost we were planning to install was already 48" long and only 40" should be needed (@ 10" per hen), we figured just one was enough. But is more than one roost necessary because of pecking order, even if one is sufficient in length?

I'd originally planned to place the roost 18" off the floor, but then ran into a problem because our nest box was planned to be 24" off the floor (this would allow us to hang the waterer beneath the nest). One person pointed out that a nest box higher than the roost may lead to the hens sleeping in it instead and dirtying it up. I still hadn't received a reply as to whether or not this would still happen if I put the roost and the nest box at the same height.

 

[BeckyLa]

I think if you will take a measuring tape and measure the height from floor to top of comb of your tallest bird this will answer your question. imho they should have enough room to stand up on the roost without rubbing their comb against the ceiling. How much room they need depends on breed and size of your birds.

 

[4myHennyPenny]

Quote:
Since my chicks don't arrive until next week, I don't have this answer yet. I will have a Buff Orp, Barred Rock and 1 or 2 Ameraucanas. Any ideas on the headroom needed for these ladies?

 

[BeckyLa]

I've never had a BO, but I have BR and EE's. Since you have only hens, I'd say 2' would probably work, but if you had a roo, I'd allow 2 1/2' to 3' to allow him to stretch out and crow. This would be the shortest point, I think you said the gabled end....

 

[momma-hen]

I've stopped mounting my nestboxes because the girls always end up laying underneath them

Thus, my system is nextbox on the floor, followed by a poopcatching tray mounted on 2x4s, followed by the roost. We cut a trap door on the outside of the coop to gather the eggs without going inside.

 

[4myHennyPenny]

Quote:
Do you happen to have pictures of what the nest box, poopcatching tray and roost look like? I was considering the idea of placing the nest box beneath the roost, but I was concerned about the poop landing on it. I'm already planning on a dropping pit on the floor, but couldn't figure out how to take care of the top of the nest box. Maybe your pics will help.

 

[Jsto]

Quote:
Whoa! What if the wall the roosts are on are only 5'? Add in the 18" it's supposed to be from the floor and the 12" between roosts and you've not got much roost space at all.

Sorry to hijack your thread, but these dang roosts are giving me such a hard time! Are two enough for 6 girls? How wide should they be? Argh!!! I had the roost all planned out, but when we started building, I realised that the specifications just weren't working out correctly.

 

[4myHennyPenny]

Quote:

I think you and I are back to where we were when I last hijacked your post!!! Still this darn roost thing, isn't it?

Well, just read on another site (about Orps) that the roost should be 2 to 2 1/2' below any ventilation so they don't catch a draft. So, like you say, I'm just having to move it lower and lower now.

Looks like I'll be moving the nest box down to maybe a foot off the floor-- but wait, that won't leave them enough room to walk underneath, so it can't be considered part of the floor space, right? AAAGGH!

So back to yours: Your roost are 5' wide? Under the rule of 10" per hen, you should be fine. (Another site recommended a foot per hen.) And if you're able to add another roost, you'd definitely be set to go as far as width. If you were meaning that your wall is 5' high: 18 from floor + 12 higher for next roost + 24 from highest roost to ceiling = 4 1/2 feet: you have enough room!