Roosting bar “tower”

[city_girl_farming]

Hi all,

First-time chicken owner and setting up my coop. We will be fitting 7 hens in this coop all medium breeds (cinnamon queen, Rhode Island Reds, blue and black sexlink) Any feedback on my set up here? We are not sure if we should add a smaller roosting bar below the lowest one (white one) which is at 3ft. Also do u guys think this tower will work? Does it look like they will have enough room to jump up and down?

Thanks!

 

[Ted Brown]

I have never seen vertical stacking of roosts.

Roosts should all be at the same level (avoids fights over who gets the highest one) OR on a slope with multiple roosts separated by at least 12" horizontally. Either configuration should have the roost closest to the wall at least 12" away.

80% + of waste is eliminated overnight. A tower will have any lower birds covered in waste!! Not a good plan.

You have not provided any details of the size of your coop. Has size motivated you to think of a vertical roost? Providing size details will help readers to offer better advice regarding overall setup.

Good luck.

 

[Sally PB]

^^Very good points!

Does it look like they will have enough room to jump up and down?

For jumping down, figure at least as much room "out" as "up." If the roost is 3 feet high, they need 3 feet out, and more would be better. They don't jump straight down, they flap/glide down at about a 45° angle.

 

[NatJ]

Also do u guys think this tower will work?

If the top roost is big enough for all of them to sleep, and the other bars are just for them to play on, or hop on as they go up, or ignore, then I think it will probably work.

The way it is angled in the corner, any chicken trying to use the end will bump either her head or tail on the wall. I think that would work better if you can move it further from the corner, or make it run straight across the coop from one side to the other.

For getting down, I expect the chickens will want to spread their wings and glide down from the top roost, rather than trying to go down one level at a time. I can't tell if the coop has enough space for this or not.

 

[Ted Brown]

You should be providing 1' of roost space per bird. Hard to tell but I guess that the upper roost bar is ~36"?

Not nearly enough for 7 birds.

 

[KyCoop]

The roost "bar" will not be comfortable for them to sleep. There are varying opinions on this but chickens don't grip their feet when they sleep like most birds do. I know, they sleep in trees ect. But if we are on the subject of roosting I prefer a 2×3 flat side up .

 

[BigBlueHen53]

This looks like it's on an outside deck, porch or patio. Is it enclosed in hardware cloth or something of that nature to protect the birds from predators?

I agree with the others that this setup is not really appropriate for chickens, I'm sorry. Please go to our section on coops and look over some examples there for ideas.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Get some measurements or lay out on graph paper the interior of the coop so we can help figure out an optimal layout. As others have noted you don't want roosts stacked on top of each other for night time as birds will poop on one another - optimally roosts should be 12" or more from the wall and 14-16" horizontally apart from one another, with 12" of roost space per bird. And landing space in front equal or greater than the height of the roost so they don't crash into a wall.

This sort of tower set up would be a nice addition to a run for them to play on.

 

[C Siena]

For getting down, I expect the chickens will want to spread their wings and glide down from the top roost, rather than trying to go down one level at a time. I can't tell if the coop has enough space for this or not.

Our chickens have not used the roosts to "jump" down. All have chosen to fly down in over 2 yrs. The coop was set up when we purchased it. The one my husband built last summer only has roosts around the inside perimeter.

 

[city_girl_farming]

Thank you all for your responses. It’s a small storage shed (6ft long by 4ft wide). It will be closed from predators and the small wooden square there is their door to the attached run. The photos are taken from the outside of the shed doors which will be closed. The roost bars are actually not on top of each other we put them opposite sides (like a cross) so that they don’t poop on each other. Yes, my main concern was them flying up or down and hitting walls so we’re going to put it in their run (it’s 8ft by 18ft) and build a ladder instead and put it in the wall pictured behind the tower. It’s like 44inches wide I think that should be good if we add 2-3 bars? Maybe we can take the nest boxes out so they have more room to fly down… can nest boxes be placed outside in the run?