Roost headroom

[clinkski]

How much headroom is need from the roosting perch to the coop ceiling? I have barred rocks and golden comets.

 

[elmo]

Get out your tape measure and measure the height of your chickens. Double it, and that should be plenty of headroom. Do you have vents at the tops of your walls? If so, it's good to make sure air from the vents can't blow directly from the vents onto your chickens, so you may need to factor that into your headroom calculations, too.

 

[clinkski]

I know that they have gone to roost before but last night they all stayed on the outside perch in the coop. Any ideas why they didn't go up?

 

[elmo]

If they've roosted there before, there might be something in there that spooked them, like a rat or a snake or some other kind of predator trying to get in. Take a good close look in there and see if you can spot any clues. Did you change anything inside the coop recently?

Chickens don't usually like to go inside completely dark places, but you say your flock has roosted inside before, so that couldn't be it. Pecking order problems are another reason why some birds start roosting outside, but again that shouldn't make all of them roost outside.

It can't be getting too warm inside the coop at this time of year.

Other than the predator thing, I'm stumped.

 

[clinkski]

Thanks for the ideas. I'll check the area thoroughly this weekend. My husband moved the ashbox to the middle of the area and maybe that is making it difficult for them to get up and down from the roosts. Who knows!