Roosting: how to best serve your chickens

[freesoul]

I am planning on building a coop inside my shed, and have an access door with a good sized run. I want to build it under a workbench and have it hinge to open the whole top for easy access for cleaning and egg retrieval. Is 4' high enough, to have a roost height of say 2'?

Or would it be better to build it higher? (hate to lose that much room in my shed)

 

[Who922]

I'm glad I read this before I finished my roosts this afternoon. I was going to put them on the 2" side. I will put them on the 4" side if that is goiing to make them happier. I don't know if they are happy anyway. I only seem to be the guy that scares them when I open the barn door to feed them!!

 

[Hope119]

From my experience, they eventually would be less afraid of you. Especially if you also feed them from hand, pick them up to pet, etc.
Ours roost on 4in side, just fine. All from 5 week olds to 13month olds.

 

[seminolewind]

I have 4 fence posts as roosts, knee high because of my big girls-I don't want them breaking a leg

 

[big flying chickens]

i have a roost about 3 feet off the ground and 4 of my bantam chickens go there but 4 of the others go on the beams about 8.5 feet off the ground

 

[MrJesse34]

Am I the only one who just cut down a sapling and made my roosts from that? I stripped all the branches off, cut to the desired length, and then screwed them in on both sides. 2 bigger 2" diameter roosts and a smaller "ladder" type roost I made by tying some of the smaller branches together.

 

[bryan99705]

Misread your subject - thought you were roAsting birds

No MrJesse34, you are not alone!

I use heavy saplings fashioned into ladders and used to access the roosts while others are laid flat as the roosts. With this all the birds are the same height so no fights and the birds seem to like the natural round and roughness and they don't cost anything.

As to height, I put mine high so I can walk under while doing chores (while the birds are out / no poopoo hair allowed!)

 

[Cambium29]

I used a standard metal closet pole covered with self-adhesive non-slip grip paper. I have bantams in a small portable coop so the roost is about 10 inches from the floor.

 

[PaleMelanesian]

I also used saplings and branches from 2" at the small end to 4" at the big end.

One thing to consider is the dismount path. My birds like to fly / plummet directly down to the floor. They use the stairstep roosts to get up, but go straight down. You don't want to be too high that they hurt themselves. You also need a clear area for them to land in. I have an open space inside the people door that works for this.