Sleeping quarters help

[Dulcijean]

I have a two story coop. The upstairs is where the hens sleep and the downstairs has food and water. I line both stories with newspaper which makes it easy to clean the coop. Am I not supposed to do this? If I don't line the tops story than the poop will fall in their food.

Please help me figure out how to have proper sleeping quarters. Do I need a perch? I have four bantams. I just found out the horrors of cedar chips (which I was using)!

Thanks!

 

[Anny]

Is the floor on the "up stairs" wire?? Do you have any pictures of you coop?

Chicken like to perch when they sleep so they should have perches.

 

[CarlaRiggs]

The newspaper sounds okay to me.... you may want to scatter some pine shavings on top of the paper. This will help absorb the hens' fertilizer

. And I agree, a perch is appreciated by the hens. This way they're up out of their droppings, also.

I'm not sure what the downstairs section is like in the coop, though. Is this a tractor that you have? Do you have wire on the bottom that may hurt the chickens' feet? Do the hens get out during the day to scratch in soil? The hens need something other than wire on which to spend their day.

Carla

 

[Dulcijean]

The upstairs is plastic planks (like a typical storage shelf). I'd post a picture of the coop tomorrow if I could figure out how to. I will put a dowl for a perch across the top. I let them out to free range every day. We have 3/4 acrea of fenced yard with no red tails around. Thank you both!

 

[rooster-red]

A 2"x4" laid with the wide side up would make a better roost than a dowel, unlike other birds their feet aren't made to grip a round surface. This will also keep them wormer in winter because they will lay down on their feet.

Just make sure you round the edges on top of the 2x4 so that they won't get a breast blister.

 

[Wildsky]

Perhaps you can get some flooring upstairs... like Linoleum (sp) or something like that - it will clean just as easily and you can put shavings on top.

 

[Dulcijean]

Thank you all for your suggestions! I put a 3' peice of landscaping timber across the sleeping quarters. Isn't pine shavings the same as pine mulch?