Question about roosts?

[rebelcowboysnb]

Quote:
Higher is bad, roosts should always be higher than nests or they will roost an poop in them.

 

[Amethyste]

Agreed... roosts should always be higher. They have an instinct to roost as high as they can get...and if the nest boxes are higher then they will gravitate towards that.

And as was mentioned...roosting =poop You really dont want them pooping in the nesting boxes

yuck!

 

[mdbokc]

Have a set of roosts higher than the nests or the nests can be come the roosts real quick..or the tops of the nests.

 

[MusicMan]

Music man.
I see no ventilation in your pic. That will be a big problem if so. It will be hot as anything up next to that roof. kFans with fresh air intakes would do the trick. Need an exhaust port at far end from fan. Better fans at each end and turbine vent in center of roof. Also, looks like your feed troughs are way too wide. Birds will walk and poop in them like crazy, I made mine from plastic guttering material. I then put a scrap of vinyl siding over the top at a steep angle to cover 1/2 of the trough, denying them any space to either roost or poop. A skinny piece of linoleum would work too. So far, it has worked, both for water and feed. Never fill the feed trough to the top. Keep only half-full to avoid spillage and unecessary expense. Make them so that you can pull them out for cleaning if necessary. Mine only offer a 2" X 36" area for water and feed with my anti-roost-poop flap. Leave building dark at top nesting area, and put lighting near trough only. For some reason, they seem to like that.

Gsim, actually this is someone elses pic that I neglected to give credit to. Yes I agree about the ventilation and Im really trying to plan that as well as I can into the coop I am designing.




As mentioned before, yes, always make the roosts higher than the nests. We made that huge mistake in our first coop. Half of the chickens roost on top of the nests. We're gonna put a slanted "roof" on top of them real soon (suuuuuurrrrreeeee....

.




MusicMan​

 

[MusicMan]

Quote:
I FINALLY found the pics you were asking for, BY ACCIDENT!

Anyway they're here at this link...


https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=57858




MusicMan

 

[thedeacon]

We used 2 x 2 by 10 feet. Hinged against the wall and legs for support in front. Cleaning much easier. Just raise the front, and clean under them. Keep mostly level to keep from fighting for higher locations.