roosting and light question

[stcroixusvi]

We are building a coop that is more vertical than intended. The windows were free on freecycle, so we enlarged the window space from our original plan. Now we are thinking about how to construct the roosting area. The interior is 7 x 7 - pics at mypage under COOP. We are thinking of putting a plywood platform with the roosts above, giving them some space beneath. But this puts them closer to the windows. Will this be a problem? Or should we scrap the platform idea and just put in roosts?

Thank you,

 

[Ridgerunner]

The roosts by the windows seems to be the favorite place for mine. I'm not sure what your concern is about them being near the windows.

Chickens are ground dwelling birds. Adding extra vertical space is usually not a huge benefit to them, but if you can get to it to scrape it, this sounds like the makings of a great droppings board.

 

[stcroixusvi]

Thanks for the help. We wanted to limit the roof size to make fewer cuts. And we originally intended to have 12 max chickens. But I am happy to hear that the windows won't be a problem for the roosting area.

 

[Sore Thumb Suburbanite]

uh....AWESOME COOP!....I don't know anything about windows and chickens...but I don know you have an awesome hen house and I'm green with envy..... Please do a coop page or update us with the build.... That is one sweet building.

 

[bryan99705]

Very cool coop. The birds will love the view while roosting but use small hole hardware cloth due to easy roof access by coons and they have small paws to reach thru wire holes.

Please don't turn this beautiful coop into a hot house by sealing it in with glass...hinge the glass panels so they can shutter or prop open and allow lots of air flow or set them up to install and remove easily when nasty weather comes in.

Also suggest small light birds use this coop due to risk of injury to large birds from them jumping down in a tight area.

 

[stcroixusvi]

Quote:
Thanks for the suggestions and the compliments. We will use the smaller hardware cloth on the windows. Four windows, one window on each side will open. We already have the birds. And some of them are not small. So I am a bit worried. I might have to rethink this.

I posted the building so far on MY PAGE under COOP. https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=90403-coop

I love the birds and don't want to harm them in any way! Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Sore Thumb Suburbanite]

you may want to add a ramp to a landing halfway up so it cuts the distance the larger birds have to fly or hop up... I saw it on another coop on the BYC coop design page and it worked for them. That would remedy your poop boards on the very bottom and make it a little cozier in the winter I think... just paint the landing to seal it and dump some sand on it later on and your poop board will be easy to clean. I haven't read your coop page yet, so I hope this makes sense or isn't a redundant suggestion.

 

[BlueBetween]

what a cute coop!! My girls fight for the spots closest to the windows, so I bet yours are going to be super happy about the situation!

 

[confusedturtle]

I am new to coop building so I will not be able to ofer any advice but I did want to say that you have built a very beautiful coop, awesome job.

 

[valmoisy]

Awesome Coop!