[camelliagirl]

Still setting up our coop, converted from outbuilding.  Internally it's 7ft by 3ft with my entrance door at one of the 3ft wide ends and a 2ft high pop door the other 3ft wide end.

I'm hoping to have 8 hens and planning to put nest boxes just inside my entrance end so I can reach easily but am still dithering about perches.

Should I put perhaps a two-tiered perch along one of the long sides.  If so, as it will be near to the wall, how far away from the wall so I don't get poop down it?
OR
Should I put say two perches across the 3ft width (also perhaps tiered)?

How high should they be?

Very grateful for any advice anyone is happy to give.
Thanks
Camellia Girl

[hillfooter]

There's several posts on this and similar issues which are worth searching for.  Below is a reply I posted to one discussion which might be of interest.

"There's a tendancy for over protective keepers to treat chx like people and expect them to behave in the same way as we do.  A chicken house isn't a house in the same sense that we have houses with living accommodation, they are really just substitutes for safe secure roosts so in fact they only need to provide roosting accommodation.  Assuming they are "free range" there's no need to provide them with 'dining rooms' and 'lounge areas' or any floor space not needed for access to their roosts.   Also for convenience most houses also have nestboxes, though you can equally have external boxes if you wish.  Chx should have an exercise area outside in the form of a run or ranging area they spend the daylight hours in foraging.  Their food, water and shelter from the elements should be provided for in their run.  Placing feeders in the house just encourages them to constantly go in and out causing the house to be fouled more than necessary and increasing your maintenance load and making the roosts less sanitary.  Spilled food and water adds to the messy unsanitary conditions.

On this topic I often see houses with inadequate roosting accommodation with just a single roosting pole across a large area of floor space.  The exact opposite of what is required.  Roosts are best implemented as grills of roosting poles (rounded rectangular bars 5cm x 3cm is ok) suspended around 20cm above a droppings area so their droppings fall through the poles (rails) onto an absorbant litter covered floor which the chx have no access to.  The grill of poles can be sloped upwards from front to back so early roosting birds move away from the walkway.  This arrangement prevents them scratching around in their droppings and walkways can be kept to the minimum necessary to enable them to mount the perches and nestboxes.    Adopting this way of husbandry there's no need to poo pick the house and a good fortnightly clean out is all that's needed (though you can if you feel the need of course).  With no requirement to provide food and drink the house can be much smaller than many people think and a largely roosting area of 1sq foot per medium sized L/F is well adequate and allows them to huddle up for warmth in winter on cold nights.  Having lots of open floor space discourages them from roosting properly and they often sleep on the floor in the litter or in the nestboxes.  It's often the case when keepers post about their birds not roosting or using the nestboxes they've really caused the problem by not providing adequate roosts. 

A well thought through house design incorporates good husbandry practise catering for the needs of the chx along with easy of maintenance and robust durability in use.

[hillfooter]

And a further cut and paste from another of my posts

" The interior features are very important such as perches which should not be single poles but a grill through which the dropping s will fall and a dropping area which should not be accessible to the chx.  Many have dropping boards which sound convenient but are often flimsy and warp, awkward to handle particularly in a wind and if not deep enough can end up having their contents scraped off when you withdraw them.  If they are too big they can be heavy and difficult to tip into a barrow without spilling the contents. 

I think the best designs have a removable externjal nestboxes and a completely flat raised floor which is readily accessible and easy to sweep out with no ledges to trap droppings. 

Pophole doors should be vertically dropping in slides which don't jam and can be fitted with an auto opener in the future.  I wouldn't touch a house with a side sliding door personally.

I'd always prefer a double pitched roof too.  Ship lap or corrugated mineral board (Onduline) is very good.  I've seen some disasters in this area too with the roof slopes shedding rain over the entrance.

You also need to think about how you are going to manage the run.  Will you need to move the house to a new site and how frequently?  Small tent like arks can be fitted with wheels or houses such as Lenhams can be mounted on sledges as I do and towed to new locations.  8  L/F chx don't need a lot of room and an area largely comprising roosting bars of 9 square feet is ample.  There's no need to make the house too big if you have ample run and they prefer to huddle up in winter or on cold nights so it's counter-productive to give them lots of space and in particular they don't need much floor space just enough to allow them access to the perches and nestboxes.  Too much space and it will be cold and use a lot of litter and encourage them to scratch about in it when they'd be better off in the run.  Make sure there's well baffled ample ventilation above head height and all will be well."

All the best
HF

[camelliagirl]

Hi Hillfooter

Just wanted to say thanks so much for taking the time to give such a comprehensive reply -doing perches this weekend so will bear what you say in mind.

Many thanks
Camellia Girl