show me your roost set ups for your wichita style coops please :)

[Merrymouse]

Thinking about where to place my roosts in my wichita style coop. I plan on using poop trays. Anyone have pictures of their set ups? Thanks all

 

[jennyf]

I've been following your other thread and have enjoyed reading about your adventures... Good for you--hope rest of build is going well! Here's inside of my Wichita-ish coop. If I had to do over, my nest boxes would be a little higher so more of a lip. Window placement limited poop board height. The roost sits in a "cup" and I just lift it up to scoop poop. Poop boards catch most but not all. They also want to go right from roost to pop door in back right, so there's barely enough room for them to fit between. I think your build is a little bigger so you have have more space to play with. I don't normally keep food and water in the coop.

 

[Merrymouse]

@jennyf Thank you for the picture. So it looks like you have the roosts towards the back? So do you have to climb in every day to clean the poop trays? Im trying to figure out how far apart the roost should be and how far from the wall they should be. These will be my first chickens and I really dont know how big they will actually be. I ordered all large fowl not bantams. I raised my nest boxes 9" off the floor, I intended to do only 6" but when I just went out and measured it is more like 9" good grief most likely I measured 6 but placed my 2x4 on the top of the line instead of the bottom..

anyway my nest boxes are 9" off the floor and they are really high too, like 16 or 18' high so Im having a hard time trying to fit my two roost above my nest boxes but not so high so the chicks get a draft from my open space at the top. Also I want to be able to reach my poop boards without climbing in the coop for obvious reasons. I like how you did yours and I could probably fanangle something similar but Id have to put them on the high side which is the front door. I also have a big door on the side of my coop going into the run so I was kind of thinking of putting one roost longways and another one shortways if that makes sense. Thanks so much for posting the picture it really helped me.

 

[jennyf]

Yes, sorry, I should have mentioned that as a drawback too! Before I put the poop boards in, I could reach the back with a kitty litter scoop without a problem (it's five feet deep but I'm thinking yours is bigger so that may not be an option). Now I just step up into it, which doesn't bother me at all, but ask me in about twenty years.

I have actually thought about redoing at some point to have more of a "grid" of roosts like some people have done. I have six chickens, and usually four or five roost on the top back roost and one or two on the lower. Oh, also the window placement is not ideal with roosts right there in terms of allowing ventilation without blowing cold wind. That side does face east, where we rarely have winds come from. Aargh small coops, live and learn!!

 

[TalkALittle]

@Merrymouse, I wonder if you could install 2x4 rails along the full length of the side walls of your coop such that your poop tray can sit atop them. Then you could reach in, grab the front edge of the tray, and pull it forward like a drawer, enabling you to scoop the tray without having to climb in the coop. When you're done scooping, just push it back under the roosts.

I don't know if it will work with your dimensions and nest box height but if it could it might allow for more/different roost placement options.

 

[Merrymouse]

@TalkALittle Yes, that would be a good idea. Im thinking of doing one lengthwise and one crosswise. I can easily reach the crosswise one from the front door and if i could manage to make it slide thats a good idea for the lengthwise one. Thanks