Small roosting box

rick

rick

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Just put the outside perch back up as they seem to not manage to all get into the roosting box. One sits in the doorway, invariably leaving one on the ramp looking a bit put out but not pushing through.
Just a bit worried that its getting pretty cold out there and likely to get colder.
Its a Pets at Home coop with an an extended run (home brew extention) was sold as large enough for 4. I don't 'fink so! OK when their pullets but these girls have got pretty big now.
Might add some wind brakes around the coop but then it will start to be a shed instead of an open run!
How hardy is hardy?
 
Manufacturer's claims for coop capacity has been discussed many times on this forum Rick. I think a good rule of thumb is to divide their number in half, so your coop will hold not 4 hens but just two -think that's your conclusion as well?

Chickens vary in hardiness in my experience. Of our breeds Wyandottes seem to take the greatest extremes. Orpingtons can take extreme cold but not heat. Leghorns can take extreme heat but not cold as their combs are affected, the same as TNN's. Youngsters will be much hardier than oldies.

There are three components to chicken 'cold' I think. Getting wet feathers means heat is lost by evaporation as they dry out. Wind (or even draughts in the coop) parts the feathers so they lose their insulation. Very low temperatures take heat from exposed skin namely combs and feet. In low temperatures we close all the coop vents down leaving just a small aperture. This has the risk of condensation and respiratory issues so all the vents are opened during the day to dry the coops out. There are plenty of people who have chickens roosting in trees, but in my experience in cold windy weather they will roost on the ground in an effort to stay warm.

I think Rick if you keep them dry and out of the wind they will generally be fine outside -subject to breed. It obviously helps to ensure they have full crops at night and some people give a wheat treat late on because it digests slowly to fuel them with carbohydrates during the night. But be aware that hypothermia is very difficult to treat and based on recent events here it's certainly not a risk I would take. If in doubt I would bring them inside at night as we do with our Leghorns when it gets below 4 degrees.
 
As Chris says, manufacturers do tend to understate the capacity of coops and also of runs as you have found. A mature hen will need 9 inches of perch space for her feet and body sideways, and also enough space front and back so she isn't pushed off by another bird before or behind. This means at least 9-12 inches clear, depending on breed size and tail length, with double that between two perches.
Although yes, hens are hardy birds, and I'm always banging on about leaving coops as fully ventilated as possible, it doesn't feel kind to me to think of hens who just can't get into their coop at night, whatever the weather, and are thus exposed to winter cold winds and rain. Those who choose to roost in trees are a minority, most do like the security of roosting in a dry coop with company, and may be, or feel, at risk from predators if left on the doorstep. Maybe you need to get a bigger coop, Rick? The old one will still be useful as a spare for when you need to isolate a sick or broody hen, or to introduce new ones for quarantine, Many people new to chicken keeping make this mistake, I'm afraid,
And how big is the run? Remember the rule of thumb which says 2sq. Metres minimum of floor space per bird, so 8sq.m. For yours, more is better - with a freestanding coop inside the run, and a roof on if possible to keep it all nice and dry.m
 
We made this mistake as well. We bought a coop which was supposed to take 6 chickens and got 5 ex-battery hens a few days later. Suffice to say, it was a glorified rabbit hutch with a nest box attachment, not a chicken coop! It was far too small and didn't have perches. Luckily for us, the ex-battery hens didn't know how to perch, and were very happy to suddenly have about three times more space than they were used to and non-stop food. We realised pretty quickly that they didn't have enough space, which is why we started letting our birds free range almost immediately. We bought a much pre-made coop which has needed a fair bit of modification on the inside, but is much larger, and we keep the smaller coop for quarantine, chicks and when we hen-sit for our friends. It is very handy to have a second coop, although I don't cherish the thought of disassembling it for storage if it ever ends up being free for more than 5 minutes :)
 
Thanks all - lots to think about.
They free range in our small garden in the morning and just before dusk in the evening on work days ( I've made a timed pop hole which let's them out at 3pm but that's a different story) On days off (part time) they can free range all day. I've extended the run by a square metre. Taken all in all I think they're just about OK but as you say Marigold its not ideal. I think I'm on the bottom limit of space both for the garden and the coop.
I'm really not happy with them sleeping in the wind, even though they are dry as there is a roof. The roosting box is just large enough for the 3 of them internally (just!) and its just occurred to me that the door needs to be wider so 2 can pass.
Or, even an open fronted roosting box with a curtain!
Difficult to describe, I'll take some pictures.
Just put them all in the roosting box and shut the door for the night - its brass monkeys out there tonight!
 
The doorways into the coop on ours are both small enough to let one chicken in at a time, but ours are not delicate about pushing their way in or out when they need to.

What do you mean by a timed pop-hole? Is that to let them out from the run to free range or out from the coop into the run? If it's the first, then you may be interested to know that we've had a fox take a chicken in the middle of the day before, around noon, while people were around.
 
I hear what your saying KittyKat. Its a bit of a calculated risk. Were very urban here and, yes, we have urban foxes that raid the bins along the front of the terrace (especially when the students leave piles of it out for too long) but the rears are tiny gardens that are mostly back to back, like 10 metres from my back wall to our neighbours behind. No one along the street has had their rubbish raided in the rear garden. Its not impossible that a fox get into our back garden but I think they probably get their fill of Kentucky Fried with much less effort!
Its not ideal, the garden is too small for a bigger coop unless I turned the whole thing into an aviary.
It won't be so difficult in the summer when there's plenty of daylight to let them out in the evening.
 
If it were me, I would go ahead with the aviary idea…

One of our long-term ill ex-battery hens died a couple of days ago and I left her out overnight so I could dispose of her properly in the morning… big mistake. Keeping in mind that we have a 6.5 ft fence all the way around, she weighed 3 kg and we haven't seen any signs of foxes in over a year, something dragged her off overnight and jumped the fence with her whole body. I'm assuming that the fox poo present wasn't a coincidence.
 
Sorry to hear about your hen. I must admit I'm tempted to build an aviary but it will have to wait a while and might result in divorce :)
 
She has never layed for as long as we've had her and there was always something wrong with her, so in some ways it's good that she's finally passed away as she's been looking quite unhappy for about half a year now.

Never mind the aviary then… but if your other half is keen on the garden, you might want to try selling an aviary as a free climbing mesh for clematis, passion fruit, cucumbers and other stuff like that.
 
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