What size are the nesting boxes, and high off the ground for roosting bars, size of bars

My nesting boxes are 12" wide and about 18" tall.

I used 2 x 3's for roosting bars and rounded the corners over. I've got two levels at about 30 inches and five feet. A total of about 18 lineal feet of roosting space.

we have 3 pens of 6 ft chain link with that sharp --cant get under without pain thing goin and never had anything go under in 8 yrs and we keep about 30 layers.

We were having a lot of losses the last two years. The wife and I got tired of fattening up our birds just to provide a meal to local foxes. We reinforced the pen last July; hardware cloth a foot up and a foot out at the bottom of the fence and netting over everything. We think the fox was going over the four-foot fence, couldn't find anyplace he was going under.

The netting should stop that. That stuff is strong, it caught me a dozen times while hanging it! If a fox tries going over the fence now it's going to be a tangled mess.





In addition to the enhanced security measures, my wife has taken to laying in wait, regularly taking up a sniper position in my shed (she's pretty mad about losing those birds).



We haven't had a single bird lost since the new security measures were implemented.

Don't mean to muddy the waters, but for those who don't know (and especially so in Missouri), about 100 years ago, the State of Missouri setup a poultry research farm at Mountain Grove, in which all components of poultry husbandry were researched in detail. Outcome, as far as chicken houses are concerned, were carefully engineered housing in which every minute detail was examined to optimize performance of the birds. Size, layout, materials, ventilation, lighting, etc. To give you some idea of the extent of the engineering, plans developed went so far as to even specify that the windows should not only face south, but a few degrees east of south. I doubt that fewer than 1 person in 1000 who now raises chickens are even aware such specs exist, let alone have followed them. So mistakes get made. The very worst are the small commercial coops being built by skilled trade guys with absolutely no clue as to what makes a good chicken house, so emphasis on them is "cute", which may result in a really nice looking death trap.

Anyway, two basic house designs emerged from all that. One was the Quisenberry Fool Proof house......an 8' x 12 house for 2 doz birds. The other was the Woods Fresh Air house, which comes in different sizes, but the base house was 10' x 16' and good for 40 birds. Both designs have been reduced in size for smaller flocks and as long as you follow the design parameters, they seem to work.

Plans for both designs are out there on the Internet. I built the Woods house. Works well for our climate and not a single loss to a predator in nearly 5 years.

They're chickens for crying out load. They need protection from the rain/snow and predators without being too crowded. A place outside to pick is nice too. Everything after that is more for the owners, don't make it too complicated.

BTW, if I was an old geezer or gezerette thinking of scaling back on his trapping, but would like to still keep his finger in the pie.......if you are in a high predator area, a dozen chickens ought to be good for at least 10 to 15 coon, possums, skunks, a fox or two (or 3 or 4), occasional coyote, occasional bobcat and a few mink if you have them around. Chickens make excellent live bait for all of them.

Great point!

Here in SD about every old farm place had a coop many had brooder houses it’s a great place to find old chicken equipment cheap. I picked up a 15 hole nest box for free the nest inserts were rusted out from old straw still being on them. I went to the local heating shop and made a bunch out of his scrap pile, buying a 10 hole nesting is about $300 new.

My best nesting boxs are sm/ medium totes hung sideways with lid cut out. Screwed to the wall.
Easily removable for cleaning

That seems to be the sentiment of a lot of folks. But it's little things.......like the subtle difference between insulation under a metal roof, vs. an uninsulated metal roof. The latter means that under the right conditions, it will literally rain down on the birds inside, leading to respiratory problems, frostbit combs, etc. In the long haul, it makes a whole lotta difference. Birds that lay, birds that don't. Birds that die for one reason or another.....vs. birds that don't.

Keep in mind, purpose of all that research was to help farmers and farm wives of the time, to get the very best performance from their birds as they could. Chickens were not a hobby......it was all business.

BTW, almost all the old books from that era started out on the first paragraph of the first chapter saying that judging from the housing being used, many folks seem to think that just any old shack or shed is good enough for chickens. So the sentiment is nothing new.

Like 2X4s for the roost is better for their feet, they can cover their feet better then a round pole will allow. The best coops are built with personal ideas and pride.

I had a smaller coop on stilts with an enclosed run for 8 birds. I designed it so I could feed, water, collect eggs and clean the coop without stepping in chicken manure. Outside access to everything. Deep bedding in the coop.

The run was 1/2 inch hardware cloth up to three feet, then chicken wire to 6 feet and over the top. I buried 18 inches of hardware cloth under 4 inches of sod around the perimeter to deter digging predators.

Had red incandescent bulbs on a dimmer switch for heat in the winter. Waterer on heated base and feeder stayed in the run, not the coop. Forced them outside in the winter, helps to keep the coop clean.

I completely changed the bedding in the coop about 3x a year, raked it around every week.

I had roost space in the coop and outside, they could choose where to roost based on weather. I tired to keep the roosts all level to prevent fighting.

When we moved last year, we left the coop at the old house, this thread makes me want to start on the new one.

Well said.

My daughter and her husband raise birds. Turkeys geese ducks peabirds and chickens. Have big meat rabbits too. Sell birds sell rabbits sell eggs. All their birds free range during the day. They get bird feed every other day spring to fall. They lost a lot of birds when they first started free ranging. Now they have two pyrenees dogs. They have been raised with the birds, sleeping with them at night, since they were brought home as 8 week old pups. No fox where they live. Coons, possums, skunks, coyotes, and bobcats chicken hawks and the occasional eagle. No losses to speak of since the dogs grew up.

I would free range mine in the evenings, about an hour before sundown. Sit out in the yard with a 22 and a few beers, play guard dog while they ate bugs in the gardens. When the sun went down, they'd file back into the enclosed run to roost for the night.

Mine run outside all day, eating bugs...and ticks. Go to coop at night along with a few ducks. Sometimes we forget to shut and latch the door. They’re fine. Keep a dog around and predators get scarce, that’s what they’re for. Not for overfeeding and baby talking. We did have a hawk problem last fall. Haven’t seen it for awhile. Had one hen drown in cattle trough. Bird Brain

unfortunately my dog and the neighbor's cats seem to view chickens as a food source, rather than something to be protected. Hence my vigilance when they are out.