Roost!?!?

[Sam3 Abq]

I will have 8 pullets as well. I like your set up! How wide is your poop board? How far apart are the roosts?

Roosts are almost 5' wide and they are at least 12" apart. I'll see about 6 of them on the top one and 2 on the lower one.

 

[KrystalRose]

Right now I have 22 birds that are all 13 weeks old, I have a large roosting bar I made out of branches, but every night they all fight over who can fit at the very top which is a 2x4 and a metal fence rail that I use as my hinge to be able to lift up the roosts to clean under. I am thinking of changing out the branches that they don't seem to like for 2x4s. Any opinions? I have seen people on this post suggesting both but my birds seem to like the 2x4 at the top. I know they naturally want to be as high as they can so that might be part of it, and I have pretty uncoordinated boys in the group that have trouble on the branches. Here is a picture of what I have, the roost is about 5' high at the highest point and 7' wide. (the chicks were only 6 weeks old in the picture)

 

[mainechicklet]

My 2 cents here: I doubt they prefer the 2x4 rather than the fact that it's the highest roost. From your list, it appears that most of them will be full sized chickens as adults (not bantams except perhaps your EE) and may need/prefer assistance reaching and leaving the higher roosts. Both my coops have roosts that span two walls but are at the same level, ~4' high with continuous poop boards filled with sweet pdz underneath. (No fussing over who gets the highest position and wicked easy to keep clean.) They do however also roost on the poop board edges, which is okay. My buff orps, french marans and one speckled sussex use an 18" bench to get up to the poop board and then onto the roosts and they don't like leaping down from that distance either so I keep several inches of shavings to buffer their landing. I used 2x4s at the suggestions of those on this site but the hens seem to be clumsy on them also, esp the bantams. I wonder if I should've used branches.

You also have way more roosting footage than you need for 22 chickens. Eight 7' branches = 56'. They need less than a foot per chicken, so you could actually cut your roosting footage in half. If it were me, I would remove every other branch and place them all at the same level. It looks as though that would give them enough space to fly up between the branches. Otherwise give them a little ladder or bench. As you already have the system on a hinge it wouldn't take much to accomplish that. This would also prevent them from pooping on each other during the night. You might need to lower the branches so they don't fly into the heating devices, which you may not need anyways as they mature and sleep huddled next to each other.

BTW: twenty of my hens were rescued from a hoarder and some are missing toes from roosting on metal roosts. Their little toes froze to the metal. Makes me sick to think about it.

Let us know what you decide!

 

[KrystalRose]

Well, I designed my coop for an easy 44 laying chickens, so since this was my very first batch of chickens I already have plans to get more in the spring, ya know how chicken math works right? lol I know their is more than enough roosting space, we tried to plan for more than we thought we would ever have to avoid chicken math problems. Their is only one or two birds that have trouble getting up as high as the rest, mostly because they wait to get into the coop until the last minute when their is no light left to climb up, I will soon be lighting the coop to give enough laying winter light, plus I got a solar rope light I was thinking of putting in for some ambient light. Also I know they shouldn't need the heat lamps, especially all four but as per everything else with my coop things got a little over-engineered for worst case scenarios. Once in a blue moon we get a wicked cold winter. That was a good point though on the metal roosting bars, since they are sitting on the metal hinge bar I have I will try to figure out a way to keep them off of it for the winter. Maybe I will offer a couple different roosting bar choices and let them pic what they like. I do like your sand idea underneath to keep cleanup easy.

 

[Cluckies]

I don't believe it is sand, I think it is sweet PDZ, works great. dries out the poo makes it scoopable like a cat litter box. great stuff!

 

[oma4630]

I will have 12 chickens. How much roosting space will I need please. Thank you

 

[mainechicklet]

You need less than one foot per hen, 8-10" per Gail Damerow. However if you're in a very hot climate, they may want more space between them. Also, it seems that most of us start off with a certain number of hens and wind up adding to our group. (I started out with 4, built a great coop and run for them and then adopted 16 more and had to build a second coop and run.) So it's better to have a bit more room than you think you need in case that happens.