I have several questions throughout my mini novel so please bare with me.
My coop is 90% complete. My last 10% is the roosts and poop boards.
My coop is only 4' x 8', and it's built on to the side of an existing dutch barn. So we actually built a 3 sided coop and using the outside wall of the dutch barn as my 4th side. The barn wall is one of my 8' sides.
When full grown, I'm under the impression that I'll have some fairly large birds. (Black Australorp, RIR, and Buff Orp)
If I was to run my roost along the 8' length, is there ample room for the birds to fly off the roost? They will be facing the 4' side. It just doesn't seem like a lot of room in there to come down. I'm not sure how agile a full grown chicken is yet. (i'm a first timer)
I was also thinking about stair stepping narrower length roosts at different heights along the 8' wall, but read where it's just better to keep the same height of roosts for all birds. (less bickering) My nest boxes are approx 3 feet off the coop floor, so I know my roost needs to be higher than the nest box. What is a good distance to put the roost away from the wall? 12"?
For Poop Boards, I was planning on using plywood covered with formica counter top material, mounted at an angle, just under the roost, then attach some plastic guttering so the poop board can be scraped and the contents can slide into the guttering. The guttering would be attached as a removeable piece and cleaned out ocassionally.
Thank you for helping out a newbie!!!
My coop is 90% complete. My last 10% is the roosts and poop boards.
My coop is only 4' x 8', and it's built on to the side of an existing dutch barn. So we actually built a 3 sided coop and using the outside wall of the dutch barn as my 4th side. The barn wall is one of my 8' sides.
When full grown, I'm under the impression that I'll have some fairly large birds. (Black Australorp, RIR, and Buff Orp)
If I was to run my roost along the 8' length, is there ample room for the birds to fly off the roost? They will be facing the 4' side. It just doesn't seem like a lot of room in there to come down. I'm not sure how agile a full grown chicken is yet. (i'm a first timer)
I was also thinking about stair stepping narrower length roosts at different heights along the 8' wall, but read where it's just better to keep the same height of roosts for all birds. (less bickering) My nest boxes are approx 3 feet off the coop floor, so I know my roost needs to be higher than the nest box. What is a good distance to put the roost away from the wall? 12"?
For Poop Boards, I was planning on using plywood covered with formica counter top material, mounted at an angle, just under the roost, then attach some plastic guttering so the poop board can be scraped and the contents can slide into the guttering. The guttering would be attached as a removeable piece and cleaned out ocassionally.
Thank you for helping out a newbie!!!
