Roost Bar ?

[mcf3kids]

How many feet of roost bar would I need for 24 chickens? Will 8 ft. of roost bar be enough or would I need two 8 ft bars? I am thinking that 8 ft. would not be enough but I am not really sure. The chicks we are raising will be dual purpose birds that we will be keeping 12 over the winter and 12 will be used as meat birds. As they are growing I think 8 ft will be enough but by the time they are all adult (before we reduce the size of our flock) I am thinking it will not be enough roost room. Thanks in advance for your help - finishing the coop this week.

 

[mississippifarmboy]

ok, let me see, math isn't my thing at all. But here at our farm, I allow from 12" to 18" per adult bird. So 24 birds X 12" = 288" or 24'. 24 birds X 18" = 432" or 36'. So useing my formula using 8' roosts you would need 3 to 4 roosts 8' long for 24 full size standard birds. You might get by with two roosts, but it would be crowded.
12 hens being over-wintered would need at least 8' in a pinch, but I'd try to have more. The more space you allow, the fewer problems you will run into with the pecking order and such.

JMHO

 

[CupOJoe42]

I read that you need 8" per regular chickens, 10" of roost space for larger breeds.

 

[mcf3kids]

Thank you - my thought was two roost bars was what we could get away with as a minimum. Soooooo, question - do you think the two bars should be at the same height (and if so how far apart should they be??? is 16" ok??) or should one of them be higher? Appreciate the help!!

 

[mississippifarmboy]

Either way will work, but we place each one just a couple inches higher than the other to keep everyone happy. 16" apart would be fine, I use 18" but we raise mostly large breeds and I over-build everything.

There's a ton of pictures on the links in my sig, might give you some ideas.

 

[mcf3kids]

Thank you - I checked out your page - you have a nice page there and you are def. a great resource for newbies like me! Thanks for helping the rest of us out. I am going to update my build a coop page today as we are almost done. DH likes to overbuild things too so it is an amazing structure. We are going to elevate one of the two roost bars so they won't be directly across from each other. Thank you again.

 

[CupOJoe42]

Everything that I've read and heard says to place the roost bars 2 feet above the floor, at least 18 inches from the nearest parallel wall, and 18 inches apart. You can also stair-step the roost bars 12 inches apart horizontally and vertically. Just wondering if the lower roosting chickens get pooped on??? There is usually a competition to get to the highest roost bar.

 

[dfclimber]

10" of roost per bird at minimum. Even with that they may feel overcrowded and peck at each other. They take up less room in your freezer.

 

[A.T. Hagan]

I've always allowed twelve inches per large fowl. In the winter they'll crowd in tight. In the summer they'll fuss at each other for more room, but twelve inches has always worked for me. I prefer a step-ladder type of configuration for maximum space efficiency without them pooping on each other.