ramp steepness

[Eric T]

OK so I am building my coop and have a question or two. First how steep should I or can I make my ramp from the pop door to the ground? Also what about from the floor to the perch? Does it have to go directly to the perch or can it go to a piece of framing that the poop board/tray sits on? My coop is 4x6. The poop board is 24" wide and 13" off the floor which puts my roost at 23 inches high give or take an inch.  The roost is centered over the poop board which only leaves about 30in of space between it and the front wall. Would that be too steep?

 

[vickichicki]

Most chickens can make the 2 ft jump to a roost. I know some are not super happy with doing that, so I guess it depends on the breed. My roost is set around 5ft off the floor and the poop board less than a ft below that. They fly to the poop board and hop onto the roost.

Not sure about actual angles for the ramp to the floor. However if you put toe boards on the ramp, you can make it pretty steep.
I use a 2 x 4 attached to hole to floor with deck railings cut 8" long and screwed horizontal hanging over each side of the 2 x 4 equally, gives them foot holdings to hop up.

When you install the ramp, have tools at the ready for immediate modifications and watch them. If they spend their time flapping as they try to go up the ramp, they are finding it too steep.

 

[Eric T]

Thanks Vicki. I have 6 RIR's who are not quite 4 weeks old yet. As these are my first chickens ever I am trying to make sure I do what's best for them. I could probably just put the ramp to the poop board then they can hop from there to the roost.

 

[vickichicki]

I think that will work.

My girls are RIR and they have no problems jumping on my shoulders when I am standing

 

[Eric T]

Excellent. Thanks. Oh one more question. How much headroom do they need? As it sits they have around 14 inches.

 

[vickichicki]

They generally sit down when they are roosted so as long as it is a little over head height for them to get on they should be good.

This is my temp roost over my poop board as you can see the head height is not super, but they can all stand up without issues. The tallest end is no more than a foot and a half. The rooster tends to stay on the tallest end but then he does stand taller than the girls do.

 

[Eric T]

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Here's what I have so far.

 

[Eric T]

 

[vickichicki]

Well the visual helps a bunch, you might get away without having a ramp all together. It looks low to the ground, they can hop on the poop board and up from there. You could put a temp ramp in there just in case. Observe them in there and see if any of them use it, if not, take it out.

Coop is looking good !

 

[Eric T]

Thanks!! Guess I'll wait and see. I hope to have everything buttoned up and them moved in by Sunday.