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 building a coop and would like to treat the plywood floor to prevent rotting.What do you recomend?
Thanks, Julie
Julie,
I recommend using natural plywood, and not treating it with anything inside your chicken coop. Outside your chicken coop you can paint, stain, weatherproof, etc. You really don’t want to expose your sensitive chicks or chickens to any chemicals. It is a good idea to have your chicken coop completely done, before your chicks or hens arrive.
It is the same concept as not using treated plywood or lumber for your vegetable garden raised beds, you don’t want any chemicals from your lumber to leach into your garden.
Thanks for your comment….VintageGardenGal
Hi julie,
we are new to chicken keeping!
we have 3 birds and the window in their coop is directly behind their perch. is it ok to leave this window open at night or will it be too draughty. (we thought we should leave it open to give them light in the morning before we let them out of the coop)
also one of the birds has taken to sleeping in the nest box how can we get her to sleep on her perch?
thanks
Hi Webster,
Your hen who sleeps in her nesting box, might be telling you she is cold at night. When my hens sleep in their nesting box, they are trying to stay warm. It usually happens, when they molt, drop their feathers, and are cold, till new feathers grow back.
I would try closing your window, or try and create some sort of hinge or fastener that will almost close the window, but leaves a little crack or air flow. Or you might want to try and create another window or opening like an adjustable shutter, which is away from your hen’s roosting bar.
Thanks for your comment….VintageGardenGal
It can get very cold where we live. Is a window absolutely necessary in a coop?
Thanks.
Hi Dan,
There are so many variables with this question. How big is your flock? How big is your coop? Where are you located? How cold does it get? Are you heating your chicken coop? Are your chickens young, old? How often are you cleaning your manure out?
Chickens need some sort of ventilation in their coop. Ventilation does not mean necessarily a full window open. You can modify your windows to be partially open, or cracked a bit, for the winter time. Your chickens are going to need sunlight, too. For instance, I use a small cubby door to the outside pen in the winter, rather than the big one in summer time. If you have a small flock, and adequate bird/sq foot spacing I wouldn’t worry too much. If you have a large flock, that is a different story. Observe your birds with the windows closed, do them seem a bit off and suffering, can you smell something like ammonia? Or are they fine. Chickens in general can stand cold (not extreme, mind you), better than the heat.
Just use good common sense. I hope this helps, without really knowing all your details. Thanks for your comment. VintageGardenGal
Great tip on the manure box!! THanks for sharing your knowledge. We are finishing up a solid floor 4′Wx4′Hx8′L coop for 11 chickens that has two doors that open in the front. The nest boxes will be on the left and the roost on the right. I don’t have enough roost space for all the chickens though and wonder if it’s okay to add another roost and stagger the height of the roosts so they can fly from the bottom roost to the top, with some remaining on the bottom roost (it’s a foot over from the top roost so they don’t poop on the bottom roosting hens. The other alternative is to make a roost in front of the laying boxes (a foot out from it). Any suggestions which would be better?
Kim,
Welcome to the wonderful world of chickens. I personally would stagger your roosting bars, rather than put a roosting bar in front of your nesting boxes.
Like you are thinking, place them so they are not pooping on the other chickens. Then observe your hens, and see if they are using both roosting bars. If they are not, try adjusting roosting bars again. I think the staggered approach will work fine. Thanks for your comment….VintageGardenGal.
should you leave a light on all night in the chicken coop in the summer when the window is open? and how will they know if its morning or night?
Hello, No chickens do not need a light on all night, any time of the year. They actually go to sleep at night, so a light would be stimulating them.
For laying purposes, you might want to supplement a little light, but there is no need to light a chicken coop all night, or even during the day.
I don’t use supplemental lighting on my hens for egg production, but certainly some people do. Hens that are in their “laying years”, need about 16-18 hours of daylight. Between December 21 through June 21, hens are stimulated into egg production with the increasing day length, and the reverse occurs between June 21 through December 21. Check you farmer’s almanac for the day length occurring. Then you would supplement your hens with a small light for “x” number of hours, but never light your hens all night.
Thanks for your comment…VintageGardenGal
I have 5 rescued ex-battery hens that have lived together for several months now. They are all in various states of featherlessness but enough to keep warm etc. One of my girls, at the top of the pecking order, has a rather bare bum and two weeks ago was pecked rather viciously on her bare bum causing it to bleed quite badly. At the sight of blood the other hens chased her everywhere, pecking at the wound. I’ve treated the wound and it has scabbed over well but whenever the opportunity arises, the other girls, including the most timid one at the bottom of the pecking order, will peck at the scab and start it bleeding again. She is clearly getting fed up with this and puts herself to bed very early. I have separated them for the last week to help with the healing process – when could I expect her to be ready to re-introduce to the flock? In your experience are they likely to continue to have a go at her when she’s fully healed?
Just for info, having read the other posts here, none of my girls use their roosting bars, they all head into the nesting box and snuggle up together, probably due to their early life spent in cages.
Thanks.
Hi Graham,
Sometimes isolating a hen for weeks or months, that has been pecked at till she is healed and healthy, can be reintroduced into her flock. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn’t, you might have to find another home for her. One of my favorite hens came from a neighbor whose flock of hens had pecked her badly for some reason. She flourished in my flock and lived a long life. Observe your flock for factors that might be causing pecking. Overcrowding? Different ages within the flock? Signs of mites or disease?
Yes, your hens sleeping in their nesting boxes might stem from their earlier life in cages. Sometimes hens, especially young ones, need to be taught how to roost. Either from an experienced hen, or just placing them on their roost yourself for a few nights, till they get the hang of it. Also, if hens are cold, they tend to sleep in their nesting boxes to stay warm.
Thanks for your great comment…VintageGardenGal
I have read everything on nest boxes, but nowhere does it say how far out from the front of the nest boxes should the bar go for them to jump onto before going into the nest boxes. I had mine about 3 inches out from the nest boxes, the chickens don’t use the boxes yet, but they are still too young to lay. I used a stair handrail for the roost. I also have regular roosting for them at night which they do use all the time. Thanks for any help you can give me.
Annie, I don’t use any roosting bar in front of my nesting boxes. If you go to my post on nesting boxes, you’ll see a few photos. My hens jump into the first tier of nesting boxes, and actually jump and semi-fly to the highest set of nesting boxes. Thanks for your comment…VintageGardenGal.
Thank you, then I will just leave the bar off. And see if they use them.
Great ideas for the coop! We have learned a great deal from your site. I have one question, for which I didn’t see a definite answer to. Is there a dimension for how far away from the wall the roosting bar should be? It appears from your picture that the bar is about in the middle of the window, would that be about 2′ from the wall?
Thanks
Steve, yes my roosting bar in in the middle of my window, width-wise across my chicken coop, but actually 14-16″ away from the back wall. Give your chickens room to fly up to the roosting bar, have the ability to turn themselves around, and for a little breathing room for them in general. They like to look out their window from their roosting bar sometimes during the day. Thanks for your kind words and great question….VintageGardenGal
Hi, Is there any reason why hens should roost on a perch? My two girls insist on sleeping on the floor beneath the perch in spite of putting them on it every night. Should I give in and just leave them to sleep on the floor? (They are safe from any predators as they are shut in at night and there sleeping place is raised off the ground). Jane
Jane, it usually comes natural for chickens to roost on something high at night. Are they young hens that don’t know the drill? Mature hens that you adopted that have had a different environment? Something about their perch, too high, too hard to reach, that they don’t like? Just some suggestions on what might be happening. As long as they are safe, they can sleep where ever they like. Roosting at night helps with manure duty in the manure, all in one place. Thanks for your great questions…VintageGardenGal
I have a problem one of our young chickens is sleeping all day and is not lively like the others, she used tobe but now she is sad or soemthing? need help
It must be sad to see your hen sleeping all day. It is hard to tell what might be the matter. She is not sitting on eggs and brooding, is she? Hens will sit on their eggs for days on end when brooding.
A couple of signs to check to see if she is healthy are look at her comb, it should be rosy red and not pale or yellowish, same with her wattles–they should be rosy red and not pale. Are her eyes alert or do they look listless? Is she eating or drinking at all.
It might be a disease, parasite, or a genetic problem. If you have a vet in your area who specializes in chickens, take her to the vet, for piece of mind. Have you picked her up to see if there is any physical evidence of anything that might be affecting her. How are the other hens treating her?
These are some of my suggestions. Thanks for your great question…VintageGardenGal
I was just wondering if you have any suggestions for chicken coop flooring I live in the very wet and humid Great Northwest. I originally built my coop in March with plywood but will soon have to replace it, it seems to soak up all the moisture in the coop as well as in the air and this has made the floor easier for rodents to chew through. The actual coop was built inside our barn but we had to use a wood floor because the cement floor was not poured level. I was told to try marine plywood or even melamine-which I believe is osb with a plastic coating. Do you know which would be better? or is it normal to replace the flooring every year?
Thanks for your help.
Jackie
Jackie, it sounds like you need to address the moisture problem in your barn, and make sure you have adequate ventilation, too.
Normally, a raised plywood chicken coop floor, about 2 feet off of your barn floor would allow for ventilation, cleaning, and to keep the rodents at bay. Good chicken coop floors can by plywood, concrete, solid wood planks. Sounds like you need to work on your moisture problem and ventilation, too. Chickens do not do well in a wet, damp, environment. Thanks for your great questions…VintageGardenGal
Hi, Bonnie.
So, we picked up our chickens today. I am very pleased to have them, plus they’ve already given us three eggs! They seem very happy in their new home. I do have a question, though. The people I got them from, while nice, did not keep a clean pen. The manure was over an inch deep in the entire coop. The chickens feet were mired, along with many of their bodies. A number of them have bare spots, perhaps having been pecked. I know about a paste-like substance at the feed store that I can treat those spots with. My question is, after being in a clean coop for a while, will they themselves get cleaned up? The poor birds were covered in it. Thank you for any advise you can offer. June in Alaska
June, bare spots on chickens suggests they are pecking each other. It might be other things, too, by the conditions you described. I personally clean my coop every day, and compost it with my kitchen scraps. Your hens will feel better in a cleaner environment, and will be much more healthy in the long run.
I suggest washing your chickens’ feet with a warm organic soap, and clean them of all manure. Dry them off well. Observe and hold them closely, and see if they have mites, lice, etc, too. Provide them with clean fluffy bedding, and a warm safe chicken coop.
Check my posts for the square foot/bird optimum ratio for their coop and outside pen, if you have one. If they were cramped for space, it is cause for stress and picking on one another, too. Remember, there is always a pecking order in a flock.
With a clean coop, ample food and clean water, treats like lettuce, chard, spinach, access to sunlight, and tender loving care on your part, your hens should do much better.
I have always had a wonderful experience adopting chicken into my flock. With a little time, I’m sure your hens will respond to you, and thrive. Thanks for your great comment….VintageGardenGal
Hi. I originally had 3 hens & a bantum cockrel. I then took 4 new hens from a very horrible enviroment. Unfortunetly they were extremley vicious towards the cockrel & I found him dead 1 morning covered in peck marks. My problem now is that althogugh my original three are fine during the day with the others, at night I now have to put them(original 3) and they seem very sad. Should I buy another coop or rehome the new 4 as I only took them on because of their treatment before.
Hi, I am building a chicken run to put our coop in. We are using the kids old cubby house and sandpit area, there is a slab of tiled concrete under the old cubby house ( which we will be using as shade and shelter for the coop) should we keep the slab there and put the coop on it or is the coop better on sand? The chickens will be in there run during the day but when I am home I will free range them.
Donna, that is very sad about your rooster. There is always a pecking order in a flock. It might take some time, but all of your hens should integrate eventually. It is an individual choice whether to keep your 4 new hens, or find a new home. Observe your flock closely, and use your best judgement. Thanks for your comment…VintageGardenGal
Louise, your slab of tiled concrete is a good spot, and where I would position my chicken coop. You can either build a foot above your tiled concrete slab using an untreated plywood floor, or use your tiled concrete floor. You do want to be able to clean your chicken coop floor easily. I would use your sandy soil as a basis for an outside pen. See my chicken categories on my home page, and read through some of my posts on the chicken coop, outside pen, how to clean a chicken coop, for more information and ideas.
I have a chicken coop, which has a wooden floor, and then an adjoining outside pen which has a sandy soil floor. That works well for drainage. In your coop, you want a floor either wood or concrete that will keep mice and critters out. Thanks for your question….VintageGardenGal
My daughter brought home seven chicks from school. One of them was pecked today and is slightly bleeding. I separated it from the others. Any suggestions? This is completely new to us. Additionally, they are not exposed to any adult chickens or any other pets for that matter.
Thank you!
Julia, there is always a pecking order with chickens unfortunately. I have not had experience with chicks pecking one another. Yes, it is a good idea to isolate the chick, or add another chick (buddy) that won’t peck it. See if your isolated chick(s) heal, and get stronger. You might try reentering them in with the others at a later point in time. Usually, chicks (and hens) that grow up together tend to get along. If chickens are stressed, such as cramped housing, not enough feed or water, or too hot, they can start pecking each other.
We don’t know what the environment was at school, but I imagine they were in a healthy, safe environment. It is really hard to say what might be the cause. Thanks for your great comment….VintageGardenGal
hey i now have ten chickens in my back yard, just today i found one had died its feet were all black and its bum had alot of blood. i am now noticeing another chicken with a bare bum. i take good care of them but cannot understand what happened, also if it had laid an egg before it died is it okay to eat?
Hi! I currently do not have any chickens but am thinking about getting mmm I would say about 3 or 4. I would also ike to put a duck in with them. I need some idea’s for dimension’s. Is there anything that you may suggest in terms of, types of wood, dimension’s; ext.
Thank you so very much!
Soon to be chicken keeper=)
Victoria
Victoria, please go to my “Chickens” category on my left side bar, home page, http://www.VintageGardenGal.com. I have written extensively on all topics to successful raise backyard chickens. I would do some research about housing ducks and chickens together. You are not suppose to house chickens and geese together, because they transmit disease to one another. It might be the same with chickens and ducks. Good luck….VintageGardenGal
Bonnie,
We have just received our first batch of 12 chicks and they are doing very well. I am converting a horse stall into their new coop and am concerned about your post to Julia regarding the flooring for the coop. Our base is granite stone dust with rubber mats over the top. We figured that would make for easy clean up as it has for our horses in the past. How critical is it to have a wooden floor as you mentioned?
Kevin, I’m not really familiar with the rubber mats you mention. You want a floor that is easily cleanable. My concern with the rubber mats is that chicken manure is a “hot manure” and might eventually eat or breakdown your rubber mat flooring. Horse manure is a “cool manure”, so is not as harsh. Try it, and see if it works. You want to be able to keep your floor and bedding clean for your chickens. If you are not able to keep your floor clean, you run into problems with pests and disease. Thanks for your great comment…VintageGardenGal.
Hi Bonnie, so, we’ve now gotten used to our chickens and are enjoying them, and their eggs, immensely. We’ve now got 3 ducks (2 female/1 male) and 3 geese (1 female/2 males). The ducks are each laying an egg a day, but they don’t seem to be brooding them?? The females are mallards and the male is a chinese. Will these two mate? I’m trying to incubate them in my kitchen right now. The geese are Africans. I’ve gotten one egg so far, but did not notice any brooding. They’re all 1 year old. When would they feel the desire to procreate? How can you tell if fertilization is happening? Do you even “do” ducks and geese?
Also, we’re down to 25 chickens, one mysteriously died about a month ago. However, we’ve still only gotten a maximum of 13 eggs, normally averaging 10 per day. I’m thinking of putting a plastic strap on those I happen to see in next boxes, as they probably wouldn’t be in nest boxes if they weren’t laying. Then when I think I have the layers all labeled, making some soup with the remainder. Do you have any other suggestions? Thank you for any info. June in AK
June, I had one duck when I was five. Does that count? I really can’t advise you on your ducks and geese. I do know it is best to house ducks and geese separately from chickens due to potential disease transfer. Your geese should be mature enough to have goslings. Do you have a quiet place for them to have a nest. I suggest researching how best to keep your ducks and geese. Are your African geese friendly?
How are your hens? If they are young, around six months they should be just starting to lay. Some chicken breeds are better layers than others. Also, age is a big factor. Generally speaking, hens lay in bell curve, peaking at 1-2 years and tapering off. I would give your hens a little more time. If they are older, they might not be laying as much. You can’t expect to get an egg every day from every one of your hens.
Thanks for your great questions….VintageGardenGal
One of my four hens has suddenly started to be more aloof and doesn’t
go round with the others for about a week now. Tonight when I locked them
in I noticed she was slepping in the mest box. This is the first time she has done this. She is laying and they all look perfectly healthy. I can’t see any signs of her being hen pecked. I love your web site and would really value your comments.
Deborah, is she brooding, meaning sitting on a clutch of eggs? Is her comb bright red or pale? It could be many things, and on the other hand it might be nothing. Observer her closely for a while… to notice anything abnormal. Thanks for your great question…VintageGardenGal
My chicken coop is being delivered in the next few days and next week we are getting our first ever chickens – 3 ex-battery hens. My problem is where to place the coop – i have grass and soil on one side of the garden which would be great for them to peck at but it gets the most sun in the summer. The other side of the garden is best for shade in summer and shelter from winds in winter but its a concrete hardstanding. If the concrete is best what should i put on the floor? Also recently i saw a picture of hens layoing in a bowl of sand do they like sand? thanks in advance for any help
Bonnie-
I have ample roost space for my four hens but only three of them use the roost. The fourth and largest hen prefers to roost on top of the waterer. It makes the water awful messy very quickly. I tried to put rocks on top to discourage her but she just sat on those. I am thinking she feels more dominant there with her court looking at her from the roost. Any ideas on a different water system or a different roost plan?
Bonnie I have just realised you arevin Szn Diego. My son is studying there at SDSU. On secondment for a year from England.
Christine, I suggest the grass and soil side for your hens. You can always put a nice shade cloth over the top of your outside pen, or plant a nice tree for shade. Chickens love to take dirt baths, or create an indention in the soil to lay in. My outside pen is sandy soil. Please note that your grass might become dirt over time with your hens there.
I like a concrete or wood floor for a chicken coop, with a layer of bedding on top of that. It is easier to clean and keep out rodents. It is nice to have a grassy area or sandy soil area for chickens to roam about in an outside pen situation. If you have severe winters, then you must go with the protected area.
Maybe you can create a combination? An outside pen, and a protected chicken coop. Thanks for your great question…VintageGardenGal
Danielle, my hen, Charley does the same on her waterer. You could try and move the location of the waterer and see if that changes anything. You could substitute something else for her to roost on (like a high box), and move the waterer location. Thanks for your great question…VintageGardenGal
Danielle, I had another thought on this. If you raise the height of your waterer with a brick or something stable it will be less convenient for your hen to perch on it. Try a different waterer height…..VintageGardenGal
I loved your chicken coop, if only the rest of us were so creative……I love it when we can enjoy animals an not just look at them as something to make money from
What an informative site on chicken-keeping here! I couldn’t resist getting 8 chicks this spring; they’re about ready to move into their new residence. I have a question:
The floor of the 4 x 8 coop is concrete. I’m thinking of using sandstone over the concrete, mainly because I have a pile of it I use for my horses’ walk-in shed. Should I be concerned about their consuming too much of the sand?
I just thought of something else. I’m planning roosting bar along the 4′ width of the coop, about 2′ high; but is 12 inches far enough away from the back wall? I’m building right-angle supports and thought 12″ out from the wall is enough, but I read your bar comes out 14-16″? Maybe I should give the chickens a little more credit for adaptability!!
Boy, a 4′ x 8′ coop is small! But it’s all the space I have for the moment. I’ve changed the design a dozen times. Do have windows in the shed, and the one window in the coop will go out to a 2′ x 8′ “sun porch! It’s covered in chicken wire with a grated floor; it will be placed under the window, like a window flower box. Haven’t yet figured out how to get them up to the window sill and out. Window is 4′ high–maybe a 2′ high bar in front of the window??
What fun!
Joe, you don’t have to worry about chickens eating too much sand. By nature, they need a little grit to digest their food. They won’t be eating the sand. My concern is how easy is the sandstone to clean. Thanks your your great comment….VintageGardenGal