When we built the original roost in the coop for our chickens last year, we went with a two-tiered design with a poop board below. It turned out that all the chickens wanted to be on the higher – mind you, it was only a 3 1/2″ height difference – roost and they pretty much ignored the lower one.
Having learned from that experience, we used a single-roost design this time that runs along 3 of the 4 coop walls. Since the roost remains at the same height continuously, there shouldn’t be any fighting over the “prime” roost now.
The construction took about 4 hours to complete. As with many of our projects, refinements/changes were made along the way. The 2×4 roosts are well-supported and since we laid them flat, rather than on edge, they should allow the chickens to cover their feet during the worst winter cold. We also improved the poop board design by using a single piece of 3/8″ plywood (previously used 1/4″ split into halves) for each run, increasing the rigidity. Additional nest boxes will also fit nicely under the longer roost.
The original flock of 7 chickens will get to try the new roost out tonight. Wonder where they’ll decide to congregate..?