J.Lo Showing Off Roosting Bar and Manure Box
Two more important components of your chicken coop are the “Roosting Bar” and “Manure Box”. Housed chickens do not sleep in nesting boxes, or on the floor of their chicken coop, they sleep shoulder to shoulder on an elevated roosting bar at night. This bar actually assimilates a tree limb. Chickens that roam free, such as in Key West, Florida, instinctively know they can better protect themselves from predators up in a tree on a limb at night. The same concept holds true for your backyard flock utilizing their night roosting bar inside their chicken coop.
The roosting bar is a simple solid dowel, about 1.5″ in diameter, that is secured in place, usually opposite the side of the nesting boxes. Allow 6″-10″ width of roosting bar space per hen. Our roosting bar is positioned 2’8″ high from the chicken coop floor. Depending on your chicken coop design, you might want to vary the height up or down a bit. You want it to be comfortable for your hens to perch on. Underneath the roosting bar is the manure box.
The manure box is a beautiful thing. It is situated directly below the roosting bar, filled with bedding, and a moveable screen lid. This screen lid should be made of durable half-inch wire mesh.
Most of your chicken manure droppings will fall to the manure screen lid and box during the night. It is almost like a “cat litter box”, but an equivalent concept for chickens. I skim the screen and bedding with manure from the box, and take it to my nearby compost pile, along with my kitchen vegetable scraps. The chicken coop is clean for the day. You can let the manure pile up, but I find it best overall to get it out of the coop and into the compost pile. Every month or so, I take the manure box top screen outside, and really hose it off, brush it down with soap and water and then let it dry throughly before returning it to the chicken coop.
I have seen chicken coop designs that allow you to access the manure box from the outside, with a closable shutter. My preference with manure boxes is to make sure they can be moved and are not stationary. You want to have access to this area, to throughly deep clean it from time to time.
I find that our chickens don’t leave many manure droppings in their nesting boxes, or even the floor of their chicken coop. Manure droppings are mainly deposited in the manure box at night, and the outside pen during the day. I rotate my bedding to keep the chicken coop clean. Fresh clean bedding goes to the nesting boxes first, then the chicken coop floor second, and last to the manure box, before I take it out to the compost. By using this method, my bedding is optimized, and I only need to clean the entire chicken coop once a quarter or so.
One last word on the roosting bar. You might have noticed that many of my photos of our “Hollywood Girls” are taken in our gardens or outside of their chicken coop, after I have been preaching about protecting and containing your chickens. First of all, you have to know your chicken flock, and what they will do. Our chickens love to explore our property, and are quite well-behaved. I only let our chickens out, when I am home, and in the garden to keep one eye on them. I never let them out and then run to the grocery store. I always leave the front door of their chicken coop open, so they can come back for water or a little laying mash. With that said, if you let your chickens out in your yard or property, at dusk they will come back to their chicken coop faithfully, and head straight to their roosting bar for the night. Once they are in, make sure to secure them in, by locking their door and windows for the night.
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We are new to raising chickens my 14 yr old daughter really wanted to get them so we got a book that she studied since last fall and we just got our chicks, eight of them two 1/2 weeks ago (1 or 2 days old) and a woman that works with my wife loves our two kids (she never had children) so she spoils them once in a while. She is from Portugal and grew up on a farm so she really wanted to buy her some more chicks so she got us five more and they are only 6 days old now and smaller then the original eight. When would be a good time to mix the two different aged chicks ? I did read to wait at least two weeks just so we do not take a chance of introducing some sort of disease. Also I am converting an old dog run 10’ x 6’ is that enough room for our “bakers dozen” 13 chicks when they are full grown, we do plan on letting them out to free range as well while we are around. The coop we are building will be 7’ wide by 8’ deep with 8 nesting boxes should that be good enough for them? I do like the idea about the poop box under the roost. thanks Jim & Jill
My hens are 1 year old and use to roost but now all 10 sleep on the floor. The only thing that has changed is that for the last 3 weeks I don’t close them in at night the way I use to. Also 3 of them are loosing their feathers on their back at the bace by their tail with red raw skin. Any advice would be great.
Eoin, sometimes when they are cold, they prefer to huddle and sleep together. Maybe you still need to close them up at night, depending on where you live. Do you have a rooster in your flock? Loosing feathers, and raw back is usually signs of a rooster on your hens. Thanks for your questions…VintageGardenGal
Jim & Jill, welcome to the world of chickens. I’m not sure what breed of chickens you are raising, sometimes that makes a difference. Wait your two weeks, and then combine your chicks, the sooner you raise them together the better. They will have a pecking order. The ratio is three hens to a nesting box, so you are fine. You might be a little tight with your other spaces. Here is some general spacing information from another post of mine, If you are pinched for space overall, you might consider the Bantam chicken varieties. They are a smaller chicken that lay large eggs relative to their size. Their space requirements are 1 sq ft/bird inside coop and 4 sq ft/bird outside chicken coop, quite a bit less than the heavy breed chickens at 1.5-2 sq ft/bird inside chicken coop, and 8-10 sq ft/bird for outside pen. Silkies, with their head plumes, and Cochins with their heavily feathered legs are Bantams. I call them designer chickens, pretty and showy, but can be skittish and a bit aloof. You might want to get an assortment of breeds for your backyard flock for variety and fun, but preferably all about the same age. Good luck…VintageGardenGal
I have 2 older hens and have 5 young hens about 6 weeks old. I have separated the coop with
wire so they see and hear each other, but the older hens cannot get to the younger ones. I also
have 2 roosters about 3 weeks old, and have no idea how or when I integrate them, or the others for that matter.
Also how high should a roost be for them. The 2 have been roosting on the top of their laying
boxes and it is gross, so I am regrouping the coop so that they have a separate place to roost.
thanks very much…
Penny, be prepared. Anytime you have different ages of hens, and roosters, there is going to be some adjustment for them all to live happily together. It is called the pecking order, and it always in a chicken flock. Look under my category “Chickens” on my home page. I have many posts on chickens, and one specifically on roosting bars. My roosting bar is at about 2′. Thanks for your sharing…VintageGardenGal
Bonnie,
I am planning to convert my children’s unused playhouse into a henhouse. It seems the majority of houses I see online are elevated. Should I see about elevating the playhouse? I am not sure how difficult this would be. It is 6 feet by 8 feet and I am sure, quite heavy. Thanks for any advice on this conversion…. I have never actually seen the inside of a henhouse and am pretty uncertain as to how to proceed!
Kala
Kala, elevating your chicken coop is prudent to ward off rodents and critters. Also, it saves your chicken coop from rotting in the soil. I have lots of inside chicken coop photos on my posts. Go to my home page, http://www.vintagegardengal.com, “chickens” category on left hand side bar. Stroll through the different posts. Thanks for sharing…VintageGardenGal
Hey thx for your post. I was reading about coops for a few days and surfing all around but didnt read anything about manure boxes until i saw this.
After reading it i went and checked the makeshift roosting box i threw together the night i got my first chick and it was full of poop. So it really helped when i was designing thier new home( ended up gettin a second chick the next week). My girls are bantams so i used a cookie sheet and half of a plastic kids gate and its working perfect. Line it with some newspaper and your good to go.
thx again for the great idea
Jason, glad to be of help. Enjoy your bantams! VintageGardenGal
How did you construct your manure box? The photo shows only a small portion of it. Is only the top part (wood frame with wire mesh attached to it) removable?
Thanks!
Louisa, it is a wooden box with a removable 1/4″ wire mesh top. I can remove the entire manure box out of my chicken coop, or I can remove the wire lid and skim manure droppings. It works well. The size of your manure box can be in proportion to your roosting bar, positioned above it. Thanks for your question….VintageGardenGal
Dear Bonnie,
i am thinking about getting a couple of chickens and converting an old dog house to a chicken coop. Is it possible for the chickens to spend all day in my fenced in yard and only sleep in the coop? I have a swimming pool but also lots of yard to wander and eat bugs in. i also have a 7 year old dachsund terrier mix. Will these things be a problem for the chickens? I really am a novice and have done very little research.
Kathy, my suggestion is too create a secured (wire enclosed on all sides, top, and bottom) outside pen connected to your chicken coop. When you are home and keep an eye on them, let them out in your yard. You will have to experiment with your dog, whether he will get along with them, or not. Good luck….VintageGardenGal
Hi Bonnie,
I have the most remarkable flock of young hens who will soon be coming of age. They adore roaming around the ranch I teach riding lessons at, and are getting better all the time about returning to their house when told. (Too many four legged and hawk type critters to leave them out for too long at a time). My question is…. What time of the day or night do they tend to lay their eggs, and how do I discourage them from laying in cushy hiding places like the haystack or bushes?
Thank you,
Lilli
Lilli, your sweet hens will soon be laying an egg every 24 hours, or one a day. My experience has been that hens generally lay earlier in the day, but they can lay in the afternoons. Laying hens prefer a quiet, low lit spot, where they can lay their eggs undisturbed. Provide ready-now nesting boxes in their pen for them to get familiar with. Chances are they will gravitate to their nesting boxes naturally, as they begin to lay. I also tend to keep my hens in their chicken coop the first half of the day, and then let them out to roam (watched) in the afternoon, generally after they have all laid their eggs. If you collect your eggs at the same time each day, you’ll get a better comparison and count of how your hens are laying. You might even want to keep a tally of eggs per day you receive. Thanks for your great question….Bonnie
You mentioned that chickens don’t sleep in nesting boxes. Well … I got 1 that does. This particular chicken here lately sits in that box most of the time while rest of hens are free ranging. Also, this certain chicken keeps sitting the other hens eggs.
There will be times when a hen sleeps in her nesting box, preferring it over a roost. What you are describing is a hen that is brooding, or sitting on eggs (naturally incubating) to hatch chicks. There is no harm in what she is doing. Thanks for sharing…VintageGardenGal
I love this manure box idea!!! Thanks for a great idea!!!
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I have just acquired 2 isa browns from a friend (they have left 2 siblings behind). They don’t seem to want to get into their upstairs roost. I want them up there so that I can close them in for the night for safety. Any ideas?
Jo, give them a treat every day about the time you want them to come in and roost. They should be coming into roost at dusk naturally. Try a treat to encourage them…..VintageGardenGal
Hello Bonnie
I have just discovered your site in an effort to understand the best way to create compost right in the coop, as described by Gail Demerow in her Storeys Guide book (p139) where you keep it moist, and build it up so that it ferments, keeps a flock warm in winter and has fewer flies.
We have 11 hens (all rescued) and a 5×6′ elevated coop with five nest boxes and two roosts, pine chips on the floor. I wonder if you or your reader friends have any experience with this. My spouse is concerned that moistening the litter in cold weather will create unhealthy conditions for the hens. Advice appreciated. Thank you.
Ann, I am unfamiliar with Gail’s book. I can only give you my suggestions. I like to remove the manure out of the coop everyday, and compost it along with my kitchen scraps. I would be afraid of ammonia building up in your situation. You can always try it, and see if this method is successful for you. Thanks for sharing….VintageGardenGal
We are over half way through building our new (bigger) chicken coop, and the nesting and roosting area is sitting at one metre above the ground, with a ramp (with rung steps) to get up. But the ramp looks long and I’m not sure the chickens will make it up there. Now is the time to lower it if I need to. Do you have any experience with the height of the ramp that they can manage?
Tahmina, you should be okay for now. Hens can somewhat jump/flutter to a high nesting box. However, keep in mind, as your hens age it will be more difficult for them to get to their nesting boxes. I suggest you lower them now while building them. Thanks for your comment….VintageGardenGal
Thanks for the information – we just got two red sex link hens today. We’re still trying to figure out the best spot for the roosting bar. After reading your info that has helped. The inside of the coop is small, but knowing that’s where they’ll poop helps to know how to situate it…
Austin, glad to be of some help…VintageGardenGal
Hi Bonnie,
Just found this site and needless to say, the information is priceless!
I am new at raising chickens and swore that I would not name them in fear of becoming too attatched. Well……One is named “sneezy” because she sneezes all the time. About 2 wks ago she started sounding very croupy also and I brought her inside and fixed the cat carrier for her to stay in. After putting her bedding in, I fixed her some warm applesauce along with a bowl of water. I then wet 1/2 of a small towel , warmed it in the microwave and rubbed some Vicks Vaporub into it. I then held her with the warm side of the towel on her chest and gently rubbed her beak with the little bit of vicks left on my fingers. I put her in the carrier about 45 minutes later and awoke the next morning to a much happier, healthier chicken. She still sneezes but sounds normal again-no more croupy noises and labored breathing. Crazy huh?
Cheryl, maybe something worked. If she persists in sneezing, wheezing, you might want to take her to a vet who specializes in chickens in your area. Thanks for sharing…VintageGardenGal.
I’ve been checking out plans for a chicken tractor and it seems that none of them have roosting bars. I’m glad I found this site and your information, because it seems like a pretty important element to me, and I’ll be integrating roosting bars into my plans.
Thanks.
Judy, I tend to think of chicken tractors as temporary, or daytime, rather than an actual coop. Hens do like a roosting bar at night. Thanks for your great comment..VintageGardenGal
Bonnie we have found that the roof over the nesting boxes should be on a slop that way they chickens cant stand on them and make a mess… hope that helps.
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