Roosting bar 12" from wall. Check. But...

[cathiesue]

wren, sorry, i should have said that i have 12 birds coming. Although my dad said and I quote "Half of them will die and the other half will be roosters so you'll end up with 3 or 4 birds you really like." I hope that's not true. I jsust got a confirmation email that my 12 assorted brown egg layer chicks will be here tomorrow.

 

[wren]

Now that's exciting! Baby chicks!

Just my unasked for life experience here. When my parents said things like, "half will be roosters" ect. it made me crazy. My sister always expects the worst, my brother takes everything on an even keel and I am one of the luckiest people around. Yes, I work on being lucky and I am stubborn. Never give up. Don't worry, work. Um, what were we talking about?

Oh ya, baby chicks! That's awesome!

 

[ontimeborzoi]

You won't lose half of them! Have ordered every year for nearly ten years and have never lost a chick. However, if you order straight run you *could* end up with fifty percent of them boys....

 

[Ole rooster]

12 inches off the wall is good. But the other spacing I would look to the grown hens and how the roost. How far is it from their vents to the chickens on the lower roost. I've got my top roost 12 inches off the wall and still the poop on the bottom of the wall. I have the lower roost pole staggered below and 12 inches from the top one. I've not had the top line poop on the bottom hen yet. But with these chickens, who knows what they'll do. At times they seem to hate each other.

 

[Red Barn Farms]

I have three different roosts set up in the barn for mine. They each have three perch levels. I spaced them all about 2 foot apart. It seems about right and gives them plenty of room to fly or jump between each rung. The first perch is about 1 foot off the ground. The highest being four foot. Spacing from wall for mine is about 2 foot.