- Oct 11, 2011
- 17
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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.