Hey, whatever works for you! I think I'd rather have a big shed that I can alter and transform, but I was grateful to find the pre-fab on Craigslist for such a great price. Sheds were just so much compared to my craigslist pre-fab. And I see a lot of "free sheds" or cheap ones but have never looked into how to get them transported.
Quote:
I wouldn't get too much into over thinking it and worrying about such things. Just watch your chickens and observe their behavior to gauge whether you should change your roosts or not. Watch how difficult or easily they mount up to them, balance on them, move across them, dismount from them. If it all looks like they are accomplishing all things with a minimum amount of difficulty, then leave your roosts be. Check their foot pads now and again to see if there is any redness, overly soft spots~or hard spots, or scabs that could indicate a problem with footing on the roosts and then make adjustments accordingly....if you find these things and you feel it's because of the flat roosts, then change to a round and wide roost(easily found out in any patch of woods).
My theory is that one should use a roost that fits the bird...if you have small breeds/chickens you can get by with more slender roosts, if you have big ol' fat hens, give them big ol' fat roosting poles. If you have a little of both, use both and see which the birds prefer at any given time.
Word of advice on that big window sill, it will become a big poop pile in short, you might want to consider putting a removal screen inside to keep the birds off the sill...
Snagged a couple pictures of my setup over the last few days. It's been a work in progress since early July. We're getting there! It started as an 8x12 garden shed. The inside "finish" is original with the scrapped together wood panels and drywall. Didn't see a need to make it prettier - the chickens won't care.
View from the south. I just added the rocks set over hardware cloth on the south side, but I still need to do the west side. The area between me and the coop is where the veggie garden was. Just cleared it out yesterday for the winter. You can see the fresh additions to the compost pile behind the coop and one of our roos going to town where the corn was planted.
Here's a shot of the new and improved roost setup. I used 2 branches from a hedge tree I recently cut down. The larger bar has been there since July, but with the birds growing, I decided to add a second. Poop board isn't full depth yet, so won't catch anything from the lower roost, but nobody sleeps on the smaller front roost bar anyway. Poop board has shavings with DE on it. I put the ramp in there with an elevated launch pad, but everybody just flies directly up, so I may get rid of it unless (or until) we get some small newbies that need the higher launch pad. Just out of frame to the right is a 30"x24" window covered in hardware cloth.
And here's the best I have of the front of the coop and run. Run is 16x16. There's a pop door on the side of the coop that you can't see, that leads into the run.
There isn't a nest box yet, as none of my girls are laying age and I don't want them thinking it's a place to sleep. It's under construction in the workshop, and will be a through-wall setup to the right of the doors that lead into the coop. I'll just cut a hole out and mount it up when I have time - probably in the next month or so. Also, I have the rest of the gallons of that barn red and barn white paint to finish painting with - just too much going on to get to it right now.
