I am new to raising chickens and have a few questions about positioning the roost bars in my coop (still under construction). I am going to have a poop shelf 2 feet up from the floor and 2 feet wide along the wall and am trying to decide how to position the roost bars above it. One thought is to place a bar about 4-6 inches above the outside edge and another 1 foot up x 1 foot back from that leaving about a foot behind the upper bar to the wall. That puts the bars at 28" and 38" above the floor. I plan to use the deep litter method so will have at least 4" of shavings on the floor. There will be a ladder of sorts leading up to the low bar. I plan to get standard size breeds. My question is: will a chicken roosting on the top bar simply catapult off, over the lower bar, to the floor or will it hop down onto the lower bar and then onto the floor? I am worried about leg/foot injuries if a chicken jumps down the whole 38" to the floor. If that is the case, I may opt to place both bars at the same level 4-6" above the shelf. I know I am probably overthinking this, but I would like to know your opinions based on experience.
Yes, you're over thinking this, you'll fit right in here! Some birds will hop down the runs, others will either be impatient or perhaps get picked on so will fly down. Sorry, I wanted to share a pic of mine but I can't figure out how to do it. I'll be back! https://www.backyardchickens.com/image/id/5742196 I don't know if this works....sorry to be testing this out on you! . . . okay, it works.. . not quite how I intended it to though. :/ Anyhow, some will use the ladder coming down, others just fly from the roosts. Most use the ladder going up though.
I love your set up. Pictures really help. I believe I am going to put both roost bars at the same height over the poop board like you did.
Chickens will almost always use the highest roost available, so putting them at the same level is a good idea, otherwise they all cram together on the higher one anyway.
I put the roosts at the same level. I had read where it eases the battle over the top roost. Like others have said, it seems they ALL like to be on the top roost bar. They'll play King Of The Mountain to get there. They can be kinda crabby even over roosts on the same level. One thing I would recommend is to make the roost bars removeable, it helps out at cleaning time. You can see my roost setup on the bottom of pg4 of the link below. Jack
