Thoughts on Roosts?

[billfields]

Quote:
As I said, the store room is separate. For 18 chickens that's a tad over 3 1/2 square feet per chicken. And there will be an outside run that'll be a few feet over 220 sq feet so a little over 12 sq ft per chicken outside. I think 15 and a half sq ft total for each chicken should be plenty.

 

[Ohhhdear]

Another thought about roosts;
Make sure the roosts are above the level of your nest boxes. If the roosts are lower, your chickens will sleep in the nest boxes instead of on the roosts. When they do that, you get poopy nestboxes and a mess every morning.

The coop we bought has 2" dowels on either side of the coop, just below the level of the nest boxes. I'm constantly cleaning overnight poop out of the boxes. When the weather warms up I'm redesigning the roost situation as there's lots of overhead room for my girls.

 

[Wisher1000]

Hi! Congrats on being so close, it's about to get fun! I just wanted to give you some things to consider. First, as was already mentioned, they will all want the highest spots and will quarrel over them at bedtime. I like to have most of the roost space at the same height and at the highest point (one small roost higher than the rest is going to cause fusses!) It really doesn't matter what the height is, some people only raise them to 18 inches and some of mine (in the covered run) are well over 6 feet high. I think I am going to take away the hen's access to those as they are too high for them to safely get down from. Large hens have a harder time getting down from up high even if they didn't have any trouble getting up there. I have found that they will "fly" (fall flapping) from the roost to the ground and not use the stepped access that they use to reach the top. That means that if you can get more room at, say 3 or 4 feet high, then provide one or two shorter steps at about 2 feet for them to jump up, that will lessen the conflicts. Also remember that they need adequate open area to disembark and the higher the roosts, the more open space required. I like my roosts around the perimeter on three sides, leaving the door side so that I don't have to stoop under it to enter. Maybe you could put the shorter steps in the corners. I think 8 inches from the wall would do, but mine are a foot and I still get poo on the walls! I would also put them about 20 inches apart if you have more than one running parallel to each other. Also think about the food and water. You don't want poo in there and you don't want them knocking it over when they perform their dismounts! Have fun and keep up updated!