I have to switch gears from a custom made coop to converting a resin shed to a coop. My original nest box/roost design won't work on the shed due to the two large doors and due to the fact that I had planned on external nest boxes. I do not want to start hacking up the resin shed. So I thought of another plan. Since the back wall is seven feet long, I plan to put two rows of nest boxes along the back wall running from end to end. In order to make the best use of space in the shed-coop, I was thinking I could put the roosts above the nest boxes and make a poop board that sits on top of the nest boxes. There will be perches in front of the nest boxes to make it easier for them to get into the nests and I would put a small ladder from the floor up to the edge of the poop board for the chickens that can't fly up that high. Then I would have two roosts at staggered heights above the nest boxes and running from wall to wall. I would actually prefer to put the roosts in front of the nest boxes, but I keep reading that the roosts should be higher than the nest boxes. In my current coop, only about half of the chickens roost on the roosts. 3 of them insist on sleeping in the goat house and roost on the feeder in there, others go into the nest boxes, which I don't prefer, but it really isn't a big deal and a couple like to snuggle down in a corner and one loves the top of the nest boxes. Not sure what to do now that I have to change my design. Any suggestions?
