Roost question / how crazy is this?

[Silvester]

I use a decent sized horse stall for a coop, it's about 10' x 14' with a 10'+ ceiling. Right now I house 6 adult chickens, 5 adult ducks and 7 month old chicks. I have an adjacent horse stall of a similar size that I am thinking of expanding into if I have another hen go broody or I decide to try a few more breeds.

Right now, the chickens mostly roost on the cross beams of the walls and I know the droppings are bad for the wood. I want to switch over to lean-to roosting bars by recycling an old ladder fir that gives enough spacing...

Alternately, there are two posts supporting the roof and I sort of would like to bore in dowels at various heights and angles to simulate tree limbs... Does this sound stupid? Would it work? Would the top Roo jump off his perch to the floor or jump down levels?



Also, can someone direct me toward regulations about selling eggs/meat in PA?

Silvester

 

[bigmrg74]

Pictures of your current set up are always useful.

 

[Silvester]

This is the space I am currently using; it's 8' x 14' - there is a similar space adjacent.

This wall now has four nesting boxes in it.


The adjacent space is behind this wall. I'm thinking of just using the half to the right, about 7'6" x 8'6".


Right now this corner has a grow out pen with a hen and 7 chicks.


This is one of the two beams supporting the roof trusses that I think would make an interesting "tree trunk" to mount "branches" on to serve as roosting bars - most of the chickens sleep on the cross bars in the wall seen here..