Will roosting chickens face the windows...

[riverchicks]

We are in the process of building our coop. We will have two roost bars along two of the walls, each will have a 2-3 foot wide window in the middle of the wall. My question is this, will the chickens prefer to roost facing the windows or facing the inside of the coop? I'm trying to figure out the spacing from the wall and also the poop boards underneath. Will some face the windows and the ones without a view face the opposite direction? How wide of a poop board should I allow if birds are roosting in both directions? My chicks are only five weeks old so they have a lot of growing left to do. Does anyone have a problem with the chickens hanging out on the poop board? If so, how do we keep them out of the major poop areas? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Amethyste]

Well, I can't answer the question about facing the windows...but looking at my Ladies and my friends flocks, they all like to sit and stare at the wall lol Every single blessed one wil sit and stare at the wall at roosting time, even tho they had a choice to sit and look out the window as they sleep. There were two sets of roosts you see.

So....there you go

Not much help but...apparently I am the person who put the Babies in the corner according to my DH....

 

[henney penny]

Out of mt thirty chickens only one gets on the roost that faces a window all the rest face the wall or the inside of the coop

 

[Ridgerunner]

Here is how mine were, some facing the wall, some facing away from the wall, and one kinda undecided. Actually, she was facing the wall until I came in.

Near the window seems to be a preferred sleeping spot for my higher ranked chickens, but I'm not sure if that is because of the window or something else. Whatever you decide will work out OK. Try to make it convenient to you as far as working in there and cleaning it out.

Most of the time, when chickens poop, it drops straight down. They can put some projection to it if they wish, though. If you have your droppings board a foot wider than the roosts, you will catch the vast majority of the poop.

 

[Knock Kneed Hen]

Mine roost on the opposite wall but they do face forward towards the windows.

 

[Kountreefok]

Mine like to sleep facing into the coop.

 

[hennyannie]

The front of my coop is wire that is open in the summer and they all try to crowd close to the end of the perch next to the wire.
I guess they want to be in the coolest spot or look out, one or the other.

 

[Eggcessive]

My chicks like to alternate--head butt head butt unless they are buddies, then they seem to not mind another chicken in their faces.

 

[Haunted Chicken]

Mine all cram as close the widow as they can and stare out.

 

[FreckleFace]

We have a narrow "sill" on the inside of the window. The chickens love it! They all cram next to each other on the sill, facing OUT the window!

It's so cute when you see them from outside. They look like a bunch of little kids lined up next to each other waiting to go outside and play. And they totally ignore the other roost that we painstakingly built inside the hen house, which happens to face the interior wall.