Are Roosting Bars Optional? Polyface Farm / Salatin System

[Sir-Mulch-A-Lot]

I would stack nest boxes on top of rabbit cages, and put a sloped top on nest boxes. I would do what ever it takes to provide roosting for the chickens.

Yep, had the same idea. I think thats the way to go. Made a little sketch (not talented with pencil and paper...) here:

Do you have any suggestions or improvements?

Btw, our setup provides 520 square meter (5.651 square ft) for 220 chickens. 24/7 outdoor access in a tropical climate.

 

[ChickenLady2014]

The plan is to have a laying box on top of the rabbit cages so there wont be any poop inside the rabbit cages and the roof of the layer boxes would be sloping so the chickens cant poop on top of the layer boxes.

But the big questions remains if chickens really need a roosting bar?

They don't absolutely need them, but because they are a roosting bird they will go for the next best thing & that is they will sleep in the nest boxes. Then you are dealing with poopy eggs all the time. What about building laying boxes that fit on top of the bunny hutches that have a flat top over the boxes. From there extend 2 arms up that you could attach a roost bar to & the flat surface below the bar could be a poop board to catch their droppings. Even if you have to put a short rim on the flat board over the nest boxes. That way you could sprinkle some PDZ on it to help dry up the chicken droppings faster. It's non toxic to the animals & it actually accelerates composting.

 

[ChickenLady2014]

Would something like this work? Maybe even extend the roost bar 1 foot (30cm) away from the nesting boxes?

With the bars being the same height as the laying boxes, the chickens will choose the nest box to sleep in. Learned this the hard way when I started into chickens

 

[Sir-Mulch-A-Lot]

From there extend 2 arms up that you could attach a roost bar to & the flat surface below the bar could be a poop board to catch their droppings.

I like your idea a lot. But the idea of cleaning the flat surface daily could be a pain maybe. How about using your idea but attaching the arms on the flat surface and then away from the flat surface so the droppings will go straight to the deep bedding? This way they wont sleep and poop on the flat surface since there is a more attractive roosting bar available.

 

[ChickenLady2014]

I would stack nest boxes on top of rabbit cages, and put a sloped top on nest boxes. I would do what ever it takes to provide roosting for the chickens. I was not impressed with this PFF housing b/c there were no perches for the chickens. While they are obviously keeping these birds w/o perches, IMO, this is not best practice. Also, I did not see that the birds had access to outdoors. The stocking density in this video comes very close to factory farming density. IMO, while chickens CAN be raised without any outdoor run, that is not best practice. Not at all impressed with this video. However, if roosts and outdoor run/free range was provided, I would give an endorsement.

If you use comfrey, be sure to grow a Bocking strain which is sterile. Seeded comfrey is incredibly invasive.

Good catch lazy gardener. I wasn't thinking past the building of the boxes that would support both bunnies & chickens effectively. You have brought up a very valid point of making sure that there aren't too many animals per square ft of space & that they have access to outdoor space.

 

[ChickenLady2014]

I like your idea a lot. But the idea of cleaning the flat surface daily could be a pain maybe. How about using your idea but attaching the arms on the flat surface and then away from the flat surface so the droppings will go straight to the deep bedding? This way they wont sleep and poop on the flat surface since there is a more attractive roosting bar available.

That's a good idea too.

 

[townchicks]

Ugh. We don't think it's ok for chickens to spend their whole lives in a small cage, why would you do that to rabbits? Even if you raise them to eat, they deserve to live a good life up to that point. Living on wire is just as hard on rabbits as it is on chickens. They do have fur on the bottoms of their feet, that helps, but it is common for them to still have foot problems from wire bottom cages. They are intelligent, and sensitive animals that enjoy running, jumping and digging. They can be affectionate and friendly house pets that can be litterbox trained. Raising rabbits like that is just the same as those disgusting puppy mills that raise dogs in small cages and breed them over and over. BTW, this guy doesn't even understand the basic rabbit reproductive system. Rabbits don't go into heat. They are obligate breeders, they ovulate when they are bred.

 

[Ridgerunner]

This is not my main roosts, it is a juvenile roost, a safe place for the immature chicks to roost so they don't have to challenge the adults on the main roosts but so they will stay out of the nests. I don't slope the top of the nests but use them as a droppings board.

You don't have to have flat roofs on the nests, you can slope them if you wish. You don't have to have the roosts above the nests at all, they can be offset away from the nests, but the roosts do need to be noticeably higher than the nests.

While I'm at it I'll show my main roosts. They are above my built-in brooder and the top of the brooder is a droppings board. Since the brooder did not go all the way I use bins on the floor to catch that end.

As you might guess from the photos, I don't scrape these daily. Depending on how many chickens I have at any one time and how humid the weather is, I might scrape once a week, I might go more than a month between scrapings. As long as it is not smelling or so thick it stays wet I'm OK.

We all go about these things differently and we have different criteria. Maybe these photos will give you some ideas. There are no hard and fast rules where you have to do any of this any certain way. You need to find a way that works for you.

 

[Sir-Mulch-A-Lot]

We all go about these things differently and we have different criteria. Maybe these photos will give you some ideas. There are no hard and fast rules where you have to do any of this any certain way. You need to find a way that works for you.

Thanks for sharing!