Roost Placement

[achesney]

I am in the process of designing then building my coop to get my first set of hens this Spring. We thought we had a great design, but we are having issues with our roosting posts. It is hard to find the right kind of information about the placement of the posts. How have some of you placed your roosting posts? We are planning a 6 nesting box coop for future growth, I have found that you should have 1 nesting box per every 3-4 hens. We had a very cute design planned out, but that was when I thought you needed a nesting box per hen. I am now having trouble redesigning. How far apart do you put your roosting posts? We plan to use 2x4s for the actual posts, but what are accurate dimensions for distance between? I also have one more question, with a flock about the size of 24-30 would you recommend a walk in coop?

 

[flyin-lowe]

From my limited research you would definitely want a walk in coop, 3-4 birds or 30-40 birds. Your size I would want to walk in. I also have read you should have approximately 1.5 feet of roosting space per bird so if you are planning on 24 -30 birds you would need 36-45 feet of roosting boards available.

 

[achesney]

I found about the same for room needed on the roost, I guess that should be same distance between each post as well. I saw some horizontal roost designs that did not look very spaced out, so I wanted to make sure I was not giving my husband the wrong information. Thanks!

 

[aart]

1 foot of roost length per bird is fine.
Roosts are best 12-18" from wall and another 12-18" between roosts.

 

[achesney]

Perfect!! Thank you for the information!!