I originally had the cups and they work good but they get dirty really fast, I switched to the nipples and it took 2 minutes to get 1 of my ladies to figure it out and the others followed suit
Poop board 18inches wide roost bar smack in the middle, just for some ideas and reference
Your coop is looking great
The way I did mine was we use two long pieces of ceiling tongue and groove wood that we were not going to need in one of our home projects. We put one in front and left about a three inch gap and attached the second piece to the back of the coop wall. Our coop roost space is about 9 feet or so. We have 9 hens and they are cuddle bugs. Three breeds with three of each breed and all of them sisters. They bicker some but not much. They usually all sleep like little loaves of bread all in a row taking up space on both boards but at times they crowd in just a third of the space when they are really feeling cuddly and it doesn’t have to be cold out. I live in MS. Our poop board is covered with linoleum and the poop just slides off plus my husband made it where I can also just lift it up and out if I want to and take it all the way out of the coop for emptying. I use zeolite or PDZ. Others call it stall fresh on the roost to dry up runny wet spots to keep the roost clean and dry which helps keep eggs cleaner. It all works really well for me. I have water run out in a PVC line to our run with vertical nipples but I also have a drinker hanging in the run and one in the coop. It is plastic with vertical nipples. I have linoleum on the floor of our coop and I use wood shavings on top which absorbs any wetness from the water and poops. I don’t have any problems. I am really happy with our setup. I have two openings in our coop with the strongest but smallest hardware cloth covering them for predator control and we can cover them as much or not at all to control air flow and ventilation and then their is ventilation in the top of the coop also. I think you are doing all the right things with your design changes myself and will have a good setup for your chicks. I have big hens. Orpingtons, flower hens, and then Legbars. Good luck to you and many happy years of gathering eggs.
also realize...you could totally screw it up completely and the chickens will survive. they’re basically little dinosaurs. i put so much thought and science into it and at the end of the day...the chickens are smarter than us
I mean I couldn't at this point. I have soffit and fascia and vents above the windows on both the opposite sides for cross ventilation. If I did that my birds would be blasted constantly a stream of air. Which won't be good for the birds themselves, especially in the winter. Also with the breeds I am getting, by the time they are sized out fully, all of them are hefty standard sizes including Orpingtons. None of my breeds would be able to fly that high, even if I did put say levels for them to get up there from the floor up. There wouldn't be enough room for them to fly down between one side of the coop to the other. without impacting themselves against the other side of the coop. Or likewise, if they did fly down that would cause injury in itself these ladies are hefty. I appreciate you giving me your input though
Just because they like to roost as high as possible, doesn't mean the need to.
put the roosts just below the ceiling is the bottom line regardless of what you read
I would lower it a bit, it only has to be a few inches above the nesting boxes.Ok good to know! The roost is just about two and a half feet away from the wall. The window above them is perfectly fine. I got my hands on some some double insulated bathroom windows for the coop. And I used spray foam insulation around it and I've been in there multitudes this winter on windy days to feel for drafts and was pretty good. The only draft I could somewhat feel was coming from below the nesting boxes around my ankles on the floor. That's because of a small gap between the egg latch and the actual coop it can't be more than half an inch wide. I got some seal strips to put around the opening from the egg latch. Some say to use curtains for extra protection but I figured I could just put a piece of cardboard against it if the weather gets really cold. Yes nothing will be in their way for landing. i was luckily enough to get two doors made for houses brand new. They are insulated and everything. I have two one leading into the run and one to the outside for ease of cleaning. Now that I think about it. It's unfortunate that I put that other door leading into run because that took up roost space. That section you see in the picture is the only roost space. Do you have an recommendations to give more roost space. I'm personally not a fan of the ladder roosting method cause I know they all like one level. I was thinking about putting one that connects to each support post going from the wall to the current roost once I lower it a bit. Also would I have lower it? I'm getting SS, barnies, and Black Australorps. That roost wouldn't to be high? Well and a Barnie rooster is coming with my order of 7 hens. Thank you for reading this long winded post
I painted the walls but left the roost wood. Remember to leave enough time for the paint to cure and all of the fumes dissipate. It depends on the humidity, took about 4 days for my coop.
