Roost bar and poop board depth question

[CajunChooks]

Ok, so I will just need to put it far away from the wall, so it's time for chicken physics:
1) Poop ejection angle
2) Poop ejection velocity
3) Poop mass (maybe consistency also if that affects aerodynamics)
4) gravity 9.8 m/s sq

Ok, can anyone do the math?

 

[Cryss]

A roost about a foot from the nearest wall is my understanding. And the opposite/farthest wall should be as far from that wall as it is from the floor. So if the coup is 4x4 and the roost is 1 foot away from one wall there are 3 feet left. This means the roost should be no more than 3 feet high, preferably less.

 

[rosemarythyme]

A roost about a foot from the nearest wall is my understanding. And the opposite/farthest wall should be as far from that wall as it is from the floor. So if the coup is 4x4 and the roost is 1 foot away from one wall there are 3 feet left. This means the roost should be no more than 3 feet high, preferably less.

Also just to add on, if the roost is 1' away from wall but 3' up, you will get poop splash on the walls. Don't ask me why I know this.

 

[CajunChooks]

coup is 4x4 and the roost is 1 foot away from one wall there are 3 feet left. This means the roost should be no more than 3 feet high, preferably less.

Oh, here I was just joking about poop flight trajectories and I hadn't yet fully considered the actual birds' flight path... yea, enough space to fly down... I guess how high doesn't matter as long as it is higher than the nesting boxes, right?

I got two 4 week old chicks that are spending their second night in the coop tonight, and I saw something pretty strange, where they were doing the opposite of roosting. Since I don;t have the roost ready, I put down a few bricks elevating a 2x4, which they used the first night. TOnight, when I went to close the coop, I didn;t see them, well I saw only one of them (Buff), squeezing itself by a small feeder in a corner. Turns out the other one (australorp) was hiding under the feeder, in a very small space couldn't be more than a 3in passage. After I got it out of there and closed off the space with a brick, I put it up along with the the other one on the 2x4s that are the temporary roosts, but the little guy just kept trying to hide under the other pullet! at some point it was just chilling under its wing! But honestly it was so desperate to get under the other one that it was kind of pushing it off....
So I guess I have a burrower pullet? In any case, it's a wily one... It managed to push through 2x4 construction cloththat was over it's head at a 45 degree angle and on to my shoulder.... (from a ledge just under said hardware cloth)

 

[CajunChooks]

Also just to add on, if the roost is 1' away from wall but 3' up, you will get poop splash on the walls. Don't ask me why I know this.

yea..... I am gonna be pushing a few inches more hahaha

 

[Chad Oftedal]

I hadn't yet fully considered the actual birds' flight path... yea, enough space to fly down... I guess how high doesn't matter as long as it is higher than the nesting boxes, right?

In my case, this really did make a difference. What I found after digging on the website here is that one recommendation is 2x the distance for landing as the roost bar is high. I like to think of it as a right triangle. Go to the edge of your roost bar, and measure straight down to the floor. Now, mark that spot, and measure straight out into the landing zone to a distance of 2x that first measurement you took. Just for fun math, let's say you're 18" high for your roost bar, that'd mean you want 36" or 3 feet out of available landing area.

So, in my case, I had one chicken that was always so nervous about flying down from the roost bar. I thought it was just her being unique, but I then I noticed that when she flew down, she generally ended up very close to the door of the coop on the far wall. Her behavior told me that she just didn't like that flight and was nervous. She was anxious about being on the roost when all the others were leaving out the pop door, but she seemed to have to work up the confidence to make the flight down. Anyway, that led me to researching suggested roost bar heights, and applying the 2:1 rule in my case put the birds landing somewhere on the outside of the coop, after going through a door! I've since lowered my poop boards - which the roost bars are a part of - and now, all anxiety is gone. My bars are still higher than my nest box - which is always a good idea - but the roosts aren't any extra higher than they need to be. I sure wouldn't call it a hard and fast rule by any means - most of my other birds didn't care at all. For reference, my coop is 8' by 8' and the ceiling is almost 8 ft at the peak.

 

[aart]

So I guess I have a burrower pullet?

Normal for either gender.....I've even seen adult birds do it.

 

[CajunChooks]

let's say you're 18" high for your roost bar, that'd mean you want 36" or 3 feet out of available landing area.

Thanks @Chad Oftedal for the detailed info! It seems I am pretty limited on my 4x4 then....

If I may, a couple of follow up questions for you or anyone:

1) What do you guys use for the bar itself? I was planning on a 2x4 laying flat, but I see people doing thinner stuff, or even tree branches, where they have to grasp their claws around it instead of sitting flat. Is there a big difference, or something they like better. Last night I put a 2x4 with the narrow side up, and they decided to sleep on that, but then again, it was the highest spot (by 4 inches, being that it was on top of another 2x4)... it was also perpendicular to the wall, and they were trying to cuddle up as close to the wall as possible, so maybe that's the reason...
2) What if I do two staggered bars? Meaning I have a higher one, and there's enough flight path to land on a lower one, with enough space itself to land on the floor? I guess that's silly, I mean, they don't need to be super high, just higher than the nesting boxes... In my case, the landing area would be towards the nexting boxes, so that would be the landing area, which actually makes it 1 ft taller. I guess a ladder is also an option

Ok, I might be overthinking.... Thanks for all the info everyone, really helping a newbie here!

 

[Ridgerunner]

1) What do you guys use for the bar itself? I was planning on a 2x4 laying flat, but I see people doing thinner stuff, or even tree branches, where they have to grasp their claws around it instead of sitting flat. Is there a big difference, or something they like better.

As far as I'm concerned it doesn't matter as long as you don't get too thin. This link leads you to an experiment someone did to test what the chickens think about it. My conclusion is that people care about this a lot more than the chickens do. Some people really care a lot but not the chickens.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-perch-experiment.74272/

2) What if I do two staggered bars?

People do ladders, staggered height bars, and all the same height bars. They all work. The chickens will want to sleep on the highest place available. The ones highest in the pecking order get to chose where they will sleep. The ones that don't fit up there will sleep somewhere else, usually a lower bar.

 

[Chad Oftedal]

@fcruz @Ridgerunner pretty much laid out my thoughts already. I did go with 2x4's on their side as it appears easier for them to either sit or stand. They also like to walk on the bar and "talk" to me while I scoop off the poop board. For mine, some use the bar, some just sit flat on the board. I'd really treat it by what works best in your situation/setup.

As far as staggered bars, that's probably a preference thing again. I have plenty of room for a single layer without need for staggering. I like my setup to be drama free for them - sure, they'll squawk about who gets to sit where - but it doesn't translate into only enough room for some and not the rest. IIRC, the guidance is 1 linear foot of space per bird ("normal sized") on the roost. If you're going to have more than what you could fit across a single bar, then maybe go staggered, or do a couple same height, just across the wall from each other? For me, the less they have to assert the pecking order, the better. Sure, they have one, and it's certainly part of their nature, so I don't want to pretend it doesn't exist or anything like that. But, I don't want to promote opportunities for lower birds on the order to get pecked more or pushed around more if I have ample space to set up so everyone has easy access and room.