First time chicken person. Built a coop for 10 hens. Do they need a ramp to the perches and nesting boxes?

by GasolineTrampoline

7 Comments

  1. BaaadWolf

    Do you want one more thing that you need to scrape chicken poop from?
    I think you are good with these hops.

  2. blakejustin217

    My two cochins need ramps for everything.

  3. erock255555

    No but you will get chickens roosting on the edge of those nesting boxes and it looks like there is some overlap with your roosts that they’ll be shitting on each other.

  4. no they can jump and fly a bit. But the thing about overlap is correct they poop all night long they may be pooping on eachother

  5. No ramp needed. But what kind of bedding is that?

  6. RockPaperSawzall

    No problem on roost or nest box height, they can wing their way up.

    Other improvements–I’d cut a 2ft slice of plywood and add it as a steeply-sloped roof over the nesting boxes, so they can’t roost there. As is, you’ll have chix roosting on that 2×4 that runs across the top of the boxes, making a shitty mess of everything under it.

    Hard to tell due to weird photo perspective, but those nest boxes look huge, you could probably get 5 across instead of 3. Mine (and most coops I’ve seen) are only like 10-12″ wide. When a nest box is too wide like this, it encourages other hens to try to use it at the same time. Or they’ll get aggressive to the laying hen just because she’s in a vulnerable position (chickens can be real jerks). A hen will feel more secure in a nest box that she can fully occupy so it fits only one hen at a time. Once a nest box becomes associated with getting pecked, etc she’ll start avoiding using it. Happy hens=productive hens.

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