Question re: roost and poop board design.

[Justanother Brooke]

I am in the process of trying to sketch out a design for our coop we want to build in a few weeks, and want to make sure I am getting the roosts and poop board placement correct.
I am figuring for about 1 foot of roost space for each chicken, will probably have two roosts running parallel to each other. How far from the wall should the back one be, and how far apart should they be? I really don't want them pooping on each other! Should I make them the same height so there is no squabbling over the taller one?
Also, how far below the roosts should the poop board be? Is 6 inches adequate, or should I do more like 8 or 9?
Thanks so much for the help. All the information on here is SO great!

 

[teach1rusl]

Here is my original set-up. It's been changed a bit. But my rear roost is about 10 inches from the back wall, and the lower roost is about 8 inches from the first. My birds tend to roost facing outward, so I don't have pooping on one another issues. It's possible that it could happen if they faced different ways though... There is probably 6-8 inches from the lower roost to the dropping board. Of course the higher roost is MUCH higher. Roosts at the same level would be fine as long as you had a LOT of horizontal space...at least 12 inches between them, and more than that would be better - so nobody can peck at the bird across from them.

 

[san415]

I clean my poop board every Saturday, so its far enough lower that it works good for me. I can take the perch out, it has a slot it fits into and then the other end is fitted onto a ledge with sides. If I couldn't remove my perch so easy I would want my poo boards to be maybe 4 inches lower than they are.

As I only have the one main perch I'm not sure about the height for two perches. If I did have two I would make them somewhat close together, maybe 8 inches apart. My hens have a T section and the ladder to perch on, No one has ever gotten pooped on. So Far! Hope this helps.

 

[san415]

I should have also said I would make my perches as much the same height as I was able to, space providing.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Depends. How big of birds do you have? My roosts are about 15 inches apart and from the wall. There's an occasional (and I don't know HOW they do it) poo on the wall.

My droppings board is about 3 feet below the roost. They use it to jump to the roost. Also, if it was only 6 inches from the roost I'd be afraid of back splatter.

I have one roost a slight bit taller than the other (like 2 inches?), there's always squabbling over it.

My poop board doubles as a food protector:

To the right of the droppings board is a "ladder" to help them get up:

 

[Chicklette 1]

Make sure you have enough room to get a kitty litter scoop and your hand under the roosts to get to the poop if you want to clean the poop board (which I do daily).

 

[CopperCT]

Quote:
X2 I put my boards too close to the roosts...about 6 inches and that small clearance makes it difficult to get the scraper all the way under the roosts to scrape the poop forward without my sleeves touching the poopy boards or roosts.

I'll be moving the boards 3-4 inches further down in the spring. If you have removable roosts or boards/trays it is probably ok to have them closer together but a removable roost is still a poopy roost that I wouldn't want to pick up to move out of the way everyday so for me 6 inches of clearance is a little too close.

My roosts are about 9 inches from the wall for large fowl and no one has crumpled tail feathers so that seems a good distance. My roosts are L shaped on the same level so I'm not sure how far apart parallel roosts should be but 12 inches would make sense to me. It's enough space if they are large fowl so that the ones on the back roosts wouldn't be sleeping too close to a fuzzy butt on the front roost.

 

[Knock Kneed Hen]

I have my poop boards about 8 inches below the roosts. I can easily get a dust pan under there and scoop out the poo. I have my boards screwed down so I can take them off once a year for a super good scrubbing. I used 1 1/2 36" doors for the actual board itself so I had to work with those measurements. It's 12" from the wall, 16" between the two roosts, so only 8 " from the front roost to the front of the board, but they face that way so it hasn't been a problem.
Somewhere someone had recommended taking off the edges of the 2 x 4's, which I think make a nice comfortable roost for the birds. Or at least that's what I think they're talking about when they're settling in at night.

 

[Iheartchicks<3:)]

Quote:
I just adore your coop!

 

[BecsBrood]

How high off the floor are your roosting bars and your poop board? Thanks!