Two roosts over one board

[sunshinewish]

Hi, I hope to eventually have 20 chickens and house them in a 6x10 coop. The most ideal configuration would be to put a poop board against one of the 10 foot walls and have 2 roosts above it. The board would be elevated above the floor to accommodate a pen beneath it.

1. In this situation, how wide should the poop board be?

2. Is 10 inches enough space between the roosts?

3. Should the roosts be parallel or should one be higher than the other?

4. Any extra advice about what one should know/consider before constructing a poop board?

Thanks for reading

 

[PD-Riverman]

Hi, I hope to eventually have 20 chickens and house them in a 6x10 coop. The most ideal configuration would be to put a poop board against one of the 10 foot walls and have 2 roosts above it. The board would be elevated above the floor to accommodate a pen beneath it.

1. In this situation, how wide should the poop board be?

2. Is 10 inches enough space between the roosts?

3. Should the roosts be parallel or should one be higher than the other?

4. Any extra advice about what one should know/consider before constructing a poop board?

Thanks for reading

Are they going to live in this or just roost in it at night?

 

[sunshinewish]

Just roost at night

 

[PD-Riverman]

Just roost at night

Ok, with a 6ft x 10ft you could roost a hundred if you wanted----if you are not feeding them etc in the coop. Mine eat and get water outside the coop. I use step roost---always have. The last coop I did reverse step roost poles and I like it(like this but the taller ones out towards the middle of the coop. I did the reverse so I could get under the roost better.


These do pull up to the ceiling and tie off(rope in pic) to make cleaning easy.

 

[Leigti]

I would put two roosts 10 or 12 inches apart and a foot from the wall at the same level. And then a 3 foot poop board underneath. This would give you a foot on either side of the roosts and pretty much guarantee that The poop will stay on the board.
I did three roosts across a 4 foot span with a board underneath and it has worked well.

 

[sunshinewish]

Quote:
Hey, thanks for your input. Do you find it hard on your back to have to bend to clean out the bottom? Could you really have that many chickens in 60 sqft? I'm going with 6'x10' so there could be 3sqft per chicken. If I had a smaller coop for 20 chickens would that be okay?

 

[sunshinewish]

Quote:
Hi, that's a very space efficient setup. Thank you for your help.

 

[PD-Riverman]

Quote:
No, its no problem cleaning----I use a long handled poop scoop or a shovel and as stated the roost poles are hinged at the wall and I pull the rope which is through a pulley and raises the front to the over head rafters. This section is 7ft x 8ft----every night I go to the coop just after dark and count the chickens to make sure they all got in from free-ranging-----there is only 18 grown chickens in this coop right now. They are always on the top roost pole and a few on the next lower pole---about 14 on the top roost---there is 6 roost poles 6x14=84. The other section on this 8x11 coop is set-up the same way but not as big----I have had 125 to 130 chicken roosting at night in this coop for several months and none of the bottom roost pole were used. Many times I have had 75 to 100 for long periods, Yes you can have a hundred in yours if you wanted. Mine has big windows that allow a cross breeze so it stays cooler at night during the summer. This several sqft per chicken is BS for just roosting----that amount of sqft is for coops that the chickens live in, eat and drink in---not just for night roosting.

 

[sunshinewish]

Quote:
That is so good to know! When figuring out the size of a coop and run, I've been strictly keeping to 3 sqft per chicken in the coop and 10 sqft in the run. If I'm able to make the coop smaller, I could save in supplies. What would you say is a good square footage to stick to regarding the coop?

 

[ChickenLady11]

I am new to chickens which i will soon be getting and was wondering If have a 12x20 building I will have standard and bantams how many is a good number plus my run is 12x40 thank you