Nest box placement in relation to roosts?

[PNWchick]

Hi, we are in the process of building our coop and we're kind of designing as we go.

Can anyone tell me if it matters where the roosts are in relation to the nest boxes? We are planning on having a bump out on the back side of the coop with nest boxes and another bump out on the side with roosts (Small footprint for the coop, it's 4X8 and we're trying to maximize what we have). Anyway, the nest boxes (2 or 3) and the roosts would be perpendicular to one another. Do you think it would be a bad idea to put the roosts in a bump-out or would they prefer more open space?

Also, we have two windows on the front (SW facing) wall. We will have windows in the man door, but we also have another window we could use for the back (nesting box side - North) or far side (roost side - East). Should we use the third window or not?

Hope this is not too confusing, sorry for all the questions

and thanks in advance for any input!

 

[glenolam]

The amount of nesting boxes depends on the number of chickens you'll have. Typically 2-3 hens will share a nest, so if you're only getting 6 chickens, 2 or 3 nesting boxes should be fine.

I wouldn't put roosts in a "bump out" - they prefer to roost up high with space around them, so towards the top of the coop you could put a few roosts at different heights. We built 4 roosts for our chickens and only the "bottom" chickens use them - the top prefer to roost in the rafters!

Good luck!

 

[scooter147]

They will not like the bump out to roost in.
The space under roosts is usable by the chickens so it is not lost floor space. You can make the ladder style roost and do so that they can be easily removed from the wall and taken out to make cleaning out the coop a breeze. Use a cross brace against the wall, build the ladder and at the end place some time of hooked bracket to slide over the cross brace. (hope that makes sense)

As far as windows make sure you have cross venilation. Also keep in mind that the windows will need to be covered with a heavy guage wire to keep out the predators and that chicken wire only keeps chickens in and nothing out.

 

[beth59]

Make sure that any roosts are placed far enough from walls, windows, or "ledges" of anykind that they can poo on and will make a mess. Not thinking, we put in a ladder type roost, but the very top, where they all like to be, is close enough to the window framing/ledge that droppings accumulate on it below and the windows get nasty, and they have to be scraped off. Next time, I'd keep the roost bars farther out from any walls and I'd place a droppings tray or shelf a couple of feet below so that you had usable, clean space underneath. Lessons learned as a beginner.

Beth

 

[Unclebean]

Make sure your roost is higher off the floor than the nest boxes. Your chickens will want to roost as high as they can and that could be in the nest box if it is higher then the roost bars. Good luck!