Roost design help

[Jenilynchickmom]

We are first time chicken owners, so I apologize if this is a over asked question.

Our coop is in our garage. I found this white furniture bit and would like to use it as my nest boxes and I was considering building my Roost on top With a poop board with pdz sand in it similar to the second photo.It is 16 inches wide and 48 inches long. Would 48 inches be long enough for 7 birds?

 

[chickity-chick]

We are first time chicken owners, so I apologize if this is a over asked question.

Our coop is in our garage. I found this white furniture bit and would like to use it as my nest boxes and I was considering building my Roost on top With a poop board with pdz sand in it similar to the second photo.It is 16 inches wide and 48 inches long. Would 48 inches be long enough for 7 birds?

You want 8-10 inches per chicken on the roost for the length, 10 inches for larger breeds and 8 for smaller ones. I also love that idea!! really cool!!

 

[NNYchick]

I used the same thing for my nest box. I put a cheap vinyl table over it and made slits for curtains and a board across the bottom lip to hold in bedding. Then used the top for storage. You can see it in the back left of the picture. I have silkies so they wouldn’t roost that high. But if it’s long enough and wide enough your idea would work great.

 

[rosemarythyme]

7 birds of what size? For standard birds you want 10-12" of roost per bird.

No reason you can't use that unit for nests. If you want roost on top, just expand the poop board on top to be long enough to fit the appropriate sized roost.

 

[Jenilynchickmom]

7 birds of what size? For standard birds you want 10-12" of roost per bird.

No reason you can't use that unit for nests. If you want roost on top, just expand the poop board on top to be long enough to fit the appropriate sized roost.

I have 1 golden laced polish, 1 light brahma, 1 black sexlink, 1 isa brown, 1 barred rock, 1 speckled Sussex, 1 silver laced Wyandotte

 

[rosemarythyme]

So the Polish is small but rest are bigger, so something like 80" of roost should do. So if you have enough width there, you could run a single bar, if not, run two 40" (or 48") roosts, at least 12" apart across the top of that unit (likely will leave a gap behind nest box but easy to block that off)

 

[aart]

How big are 'nests'?
Looks like you could just put a board 4-6" high across front to hold bedding and eggs in.

 

[Jenilynchickmom]

How big are 'nests'?
Looks like you could just put a board 4-6" high across front to hold bedding and eggs in.

Hi the holes are each 16x16 our plan was just that, make a lip to hold in bedding for egg laying. Thank you!

 

[aart]

Hi the holes are each 16x16 our plan was just that, make a lip to hold in bedding for egg laying. Thank you!

16x16x16 is perfect, IMO.