A question about roost height

[unbaked pegga]

I have four orpington hens about four years old. I bought a coop for them a good while back and it has three roosting bars on it. As I was sitting out with them this past summer I begin to notice that the smallest hen who is also at the bottom of the food chain was walking the length of the roost every night, back-and-forth over and over before she would get up on the roost and at least for five minutes every night and I would sit out there and started watching her because I didn’t know what was going on. I didn’t know if she was sick or what. But she eats well. She lays well nothing seems to be wrong with her except she has great difficulty getting up on the roost, And when she would go to jump up there, she would flap her wings and sometimes fall on the floor, and it took her a little while to get up there, and I didn’t quite understand so I’ve been watching her more closely as the summer has worn on and I wasn’t sure if the two hens above her were pecking her on the head when she would get up there, I really didn’t know But other than the roost problem I haven’t seen any change in her personality. But for the last week when I would go out to lock them up, she would be laying on the floor of the coop and I would encourage her to get up there on the roost I didn’t want her to start sleeping on the floor And she would try but it would take her more than once it was like she couldn’t get up so I started picking her up and putting her on the roost which took a little effort because she wanted to flog me with her wings so I decided I wouldn’t stay out there and maybe she would get up there on her own But every night when I went to the coop she would be laying on the floor so tonight as I put her up on the roost I thought I wonder if these roosts are too high I never have really paid attention to that because I was never out there when they would be in bed. It was just this summer that I was And I’m going to put a picture of the inside of the coop. I don’t know if you can tell by looking at the picture, if you think those roosts are too high, they do seem really close to the roof. I’ve tried to think if I could put like a some type of a piece of wood or something where she could get on that then get up on the roost, but then that would take away space that they needed to get up on the roost so if anybody could give me some idea,

 

[nuthatched]

Try a single, long roost bar about the height of the middle or top one, it's not the height that the issue, it's space.
Chickens instinctively head up as far as they can, also keeping them all at one level helps prevent bullying.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I do not see anything wrong with those roosts. Lots of people successfully use ladder type roosts. When I have issues I try to decide if it is a flockwide problem or an individual hen problem. Your other hens do not have a problem with those roosts so I really do not think it is a roost problem.

That means it is an individual hen issue. For whatever reason she has issues about going up there. Those could be physical, they could be mental.

Why are you opposed to her sleeping on the coop floor? Lot's of chickens do. Broody hens with young chicks take them to bed on the coop floor until she is ready to take them to the roost. Chicks on their own without a broody often sleep on the coop floor until they are ready to roost. Some (not all) chickens that can't fly like Silkies prefer to sleep on the coop floor instead of going to the roosts even when they can get on the roosts. As long as my chickens are somewhere predator safe and are not sleeping in the nests I don't care where they sleep.

There is a reason she is not roosting. I do not think it is the roosts. If you can determine why she is not roosting up there you might be able to fix it. But from what I can see whether she sleeps on the roosts or on the coop floor is your problem, not hers.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I do not see anything wrong with those roosts. Lots of people successfully use ladder type roosts. When I have issues I try to decide if it is a flockwide problem or an individual hen problem. Your other hens do not have a problem with those roosts so I really do not think it is a roost problem.

That means it is an individual hen issue. For whatever reason she has issues about going up there. Those could be physical, they could be mental.

Why are you opposed to her sleeping on the coop floor? Lot's of chickens do. Broody hens with young chicks take them to bed on the coop floor until she is ready to take them to the roost. Chicks on their own without a broody often sleep on the coop floor until they are ready to roost. Some (not all) chickens that can't fly like Silkies prefer to sleep on the coop floor instead of going to the roosts even when they can get on the roosts. As long as my chickens are somewhere predator safe and are not sleeping in the nests I don't care where they sleep.

There is a reason she is not roosting. I do not think it is the roosts. If you can determine why she is not roosting up there you might be able to fix it. But from what I can see whether she sleeps on the roosts or on the coop floor is your problem, not hers.

 

[Penpal]

Can you make a little ramp for her?

If there is enough room for all the chickens I don't think the bigger hens would shove the small one off.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I don't think it's the roosts either, nor bullying if you haven't seen any other signs of such. What I think it is is perhaps it's health related or that age is starting to catch up with her. Does she seem to have any vision problems? Anything that could be impairing her movement (i.e. bumblefoot)?

 

[Altairsky]

I see nothing wrong with the roosts either. Orpingtons are lazy, my girls never roosted and always slept on the ground. When I introduced new chicks, and the chicks started to roost, then suddenly the orpingtons found out they had wings and started sleeping on the roost bars too. So they could annoy the little ones, you know. Chicken a-holitude.