To much roosting space?

[sshoreland]

Can a coop have to much roosting space? I have one Roo and 25 hens. My coop is 10x11 and had 3 long roosts all at the same level. Since some of my cochins were having trouble getting up on the roost, I lowered them to about 3 ft off the ground. Ok that is the background. In the last month a lot of pushing and shoving and pecking and moving around, so I added another roost (2x3 board with rounded edges) so some of the more passive girls could get out of the way. Its worse now, with all my hens and Roo they easily fit on 2 1/2 roosts. One of my cochin and one wyandotte have moved over to my banty coop where they roost peacefully. Have I given them to much room? I'm starting to have treat wounds.

 

[chicmom]

I think that's a lot of chickens for a 10x11 coop. Crowded chickens can become agressive towards eachother, resulting in bald spots and wounds. So there's really never too much space. I think it's probably the opposite.

I have an 8x10 chicken coop, and 13 hens and 1 rooster, and it's busy in there. I don't think I'd add anymore chickens. The chickens, I've noticed, usually jockey for position on the roosts just before dark. Once the decide who sits where, you will generally see them in the same spots each night.

 

[DianaMallory]

I agree with Chicmom! Your pushing the space area for the amount of birds you have. I have an 8'x8' 12 birds and it seems like enough space when they are little but once they grow I wish I would have built bigger! At a minimum I would do 5 sq. feet per bird in the coop. I am right at my limit I will not add anymore to this coop.

 

[sshoreland]

So I would agree that that would not be enough space if they had to live in there, but they just sleep there, with warm weather i leave the doors open at each end for the breeze to blow through. They have an acre at their disposal all day long. I have 2 coops one for my banty's and one for the bigger girls and like I said 5 or 6 of my big girls have moved themselves over to the banty coop. You can see by the top 2 pics there is plenty of roost space, you can see 3 boards across and there is another board running length on the left side so why start complaining now? The other pics are my bantam coop, which you will see my spitzhauben on a tree limb at the top, she chose that spot 2 years ago and I just let her stay. You still think it is to crowded?

 

[aart]

My hens do lots squabbling going to roost in the evenings, then they end up nestling pretty close together except for a few.
I think they need extra room to get settled.....any change is going to cause some anxiety....and they are always bickering like sisters at roost time.

 

[chicmom]

I just wonder what's going on with the wounds, if they're not too crowded, and they don't stay in there during the day. Do you think the rooster may be too agressive with his mating?