Roosts coop build

[knoturavggrl]

We are repairing a outbuilding that was on our property when we bought the house. It will be 8 x 16 and have a 11x 16 covered run. It will house 13 birds. The birds very in size but most will be medium to large sized as adults. BCMs,Moss Eggers, Welsummers and a few other breeds. I can and did find the recommended amount of roosting space needed but my question is does this work for folks. Did you find it was plenty or that you could have used more? Is it something I will likely have to change as my flock changes due to personalities and chicken poltics drama? So all in all what did you find works best for space per bird?

 

[rosemarythyme]

I think 12" per bird is more than adequate in most cases (if you have a lot of pecking order issues, maybe it won't be, but at that point I'd be either adding a temporary roost option, or thinking of getting rid of the troublemaker).

Being realistic, the majority of my flock, usually 9 out of 10 birds, cram themselves onto a roost measuring 5'6". So that's around 7" a bird. I wouldn't deliberately give them that little space, but that's what they choose to do. They have an entire second roost to use, but usually just 1 bird gets pushed off onto it and the rest stay on the first roost.

 

[Happy hen lover]

I agree even in this heat some are all jammed up. I think 10-12" is a safe amount. I wouldn't do more than 12"my older girls do spread out.

 

[3KillerBs]

I happen to be a bit short on roost space for my current numbers (because they won't use the lower roost), and they're still mostly fine. However I do plan to fix that problem when my DH is done with a large project he's in the middle of.

 

[knoturavggrl]

I happen to be a bit short on roost space for my current numbers (because they won't use the lower roost), and they're still mostly fine. However I do plan to fix that problem when my DH is done with a large project he's in the middle of.

This is what I forsee! We build it and it looks great to us and the birds come in and take one look at it and say nahh try again.