Roost height 17 and 31 inches. please...

[Qi Chicken]

OK Guys, I am hoping this is getting close to the last round of questions. Even I am getting sick of all my questions. I do apologize. I have looked on many many threads but either I have done it wrong already or the thread doesn't give exact numbers. Just a few more for you.

1. We ended up mounting 14 X 14 X 14 nest boxes on the outside of the building. Maybe a mistake, but they are airtight and leakproof and will have a good sturdy lock. From the inside there are 2 on the bottom, 17 inches off the ground and 2 on top 31 1/2 inches off the ground. We are going to have big birds BO, SLW DORKING etc.

a. How high should the lip on the back be? I thought 4 inches? How high should the lip on the front be?
b. Which box should have a perch in front of it? The top one so they can fly from the ground to the top or the bottom one so they can fly from the bottom perch to the top?
c. The builder guy was thinking a little ramp leading up from the side to a ledge in front of the top one and they could get themselves into the bottom one. IDEAS?

2. Roosting bars. Does the lowest one actually have to be 31 inches off the ground or more so they don't roost in the nests? We were going to do a ladder type thing with the boards getting increasingly closer to the wall. How many inches between boards? Measuring height from one to the next one. How far behind one should the next one be?

PICTURES HELP SO MUCH!!!!

Too little knowledge is a terrible thing!

 

[wildorchid053]

i think you will find they will choose the lower boxes to lay in rather than fly up to the others.. we did one communal type it is about 4' long and 24" off the floor with a bar to get on because we made the entry small and cozy for them..and most of the other posts say that their hens wait in line to all use the same box

 

[teach1rusl]

a. a 4 inch lip sounds good to me both ways. think of how much bedding you will put in it and go from there...
b. 17 inches sounds pretty easy to get to, so I'd put a perch on the upper nesting boxes (although I agree with the other poster...they're probably end up using the lower ones)...you could probably put a perch on both though...
c. I think even bigger breeds can easily make it up to 31 inches on their own, without a ladder...
2. Yes, the roosting bars need to be decently higher than the nesting boxes so they will want to be there...I believe I've read that the bars should be 12" apart (one "behind" other) on the ladder type roosts. Since it sits at an angle, this would actually be more than 12" between the actual roosting bars...it needs to be an ample distance apart so nobody gets pooped on if they're on a lower level.

 

[Qi Chicken]

OK This is ridiculous. It was done YESTERDAY and I already wish I had done it differently. Can a big chicken fly up 32 inches without a perch in front? I thought about just putting a plastic container in there. That would probably be cleaner no? I am searching for ladder roosts but if anyone has the perfect one a photo would be much appreciated! Thanks for all the help so far. I'm hoping that the chickens will at least pretend to like the higher ones!

 

[kcfuerst]

My chickens fly up to the roost all the time. they have a ladder, but rarely use it. Roosting area is approximately 38" off the ground. I have large birds: Delaware, RIR, Black Sexlink, Barred Rock.

 

[sashurlow]

"OK Guys, I am hoping this is getting close to the last round of questions. Even I am getting sick of all my questions. I do apologize."
You only have 24 posts (at the time this was posted) so you haven't asked that many questions.

 

[L0rraine]

I have a ladder type roost made with five dowels. The top one is at about four feet and the hens all vie for the top spot. They have no problem getting up there, but boy do they struggle to get down in the morning. They prefer to wait until I open the 'human' door and, if I'm not careful, they're coming at me like Kamikazes.