Roost hight and head room

[3forfree]

I'm going to build a raised coop and will be limited to how tall the coop can be cause it will be inside a dog kennel. The top will be at 6ft as there is chain link over the kennel. How much head room is needed for large chickens. I've seen pics of chicks inside coops roosting wing to wing, and as high up in the rafters as they can get. Also should they be any certain height off the floor. Thanks

 

[Egghead_Jr]

They'll roost as high as they can get to.

For our raised coop which has limited space, say 3 ft floor to peak, the roosts are placed 16 inches above floor. This allowed for 4 inches of pine shavings and 12 inches of walk under space. With the slanting roof it still allows them to roost with heads out of air flow from soffit ends to gable vents. Standard size chickens walk under the roosts quite comfortably with minor ducking. I wouldn't provide less than 12" under a roost for their usable space convenience. My coop is on my BYC page.

 

[ECBW]

18 inches seem to work. They can walk under 12, fit reasonably well under 15. But I would suggest 18 to be comfortable. So between 18" off the floor and 18" head room should be fine.

Oh yes, just make sure the roost is at least a few inches higher than the nest.

My nest bottoms are 15-in AFF, nest threshold at 18.5", the lowest roost is at 22" highest at 36".

 

[3forfree]

egghead jr. your coop is about what I have in mind, thanks. Your pvc feeder looks like it would be a challenge to fill being close to the roof edge. I'm going to use pvc for feeder and waterer, I collect water from my pole barn to use in my garden, and will divert some to the coop for the birds.