Before they break their fool necks

[joebryant]

Quote:

I am going to build a ladder for mine but I thought I'd try just two really wide rungs on it (the hop down is about 36"). It's interesting to see all the different ladder systems.

Good luck. A 36" hop is what mine are having a problem with now. I went out at 10:30 and ONE hen, the blue one, was down on the floor. It was evident that she had smacked into the plastic screen before possibly bouncing back on to the landing board. About five minutes later, a black hen did the same thing. When she landed against the screen first, she pushed it forward and went down to the floor between the landing board and the screen.
It's 11:07 now, and at 11:00 the rooster and a black hen are still up there trying to figure out how to get down. I'm starting to wonder if what I'm trying is a good idea; it's for sure that the chickens aren't overjoyed about anything that's going on. Watching them makes me wonder if they can just "hop" down three feet. WE'LL SEE. I'm going to give them a few days to see if they can learn to do a simple three-foot hop down.

 

[joebryant]

11:13 As soon as I finished typing the above, I went out and the rooster and the hen were both down on the ground. I'm pretty sure that they hopped down to the landing board because the plastic screen is still in place and was untouched evidently. Maybe there's hope for them. If they can learn to make that hop, they'll be a lot safer from injury. Hope it works.

 

[Buff Hooligans]

Best of luck to ya Joe.

 

[ruth]

Quote:
Thanks, that's interesting because I've read so many warning about large, heavy breeds being in peril if they have to jump down more than two or three feet. Supposedly, or so some posters wrote, they break and/or strain their legs, wings, and sometimes the fall would kill them. I've been worried about them.... Sure seems to be a lot of differing opinions on this subject. Thanks again, like I said, you're experience is interesting.

Well if you listen to most advice you'd have your chickens inside in a padded room with every luxury and would wait on them hand and foot.

Not saying there's anything wrong with that but chickens are birds and they have been roosting in trees for protection and flying up and flying down since their creation.

When we first moved here everyone used the ladder because they were used to a ladder in their original small coop. After awhile they figured out they could fly straight up there. Some of the really big ones use the ladder or fly to the hutch first but the younger and smaller ones fly straight up. They also jump straight down and land with a "thud". Mostly though they wait till I open the back door (not seen in pic) and come to the end of the roost, like a diving board, and fly straight out the back door into the run. There will be a line of them at the end of that beam you see each waiting to take its dive flight. I've learned to open the door and stand back and not to go inside till I've peeked to see if one is about ready to take it's dive flight. Again, learned the hard way.

Yours will figure out the new system. Chickens are called chicken for a reason and don't like change and are fearful of something new but they learn quickly.

 

[scooter147]

Now that fall as arrived mine get to free range and they have been free ranging for a couple of weeks, so, mine too fly from the roost through the people door out into the yard.
I had a situation too, at first I would open the door and I had chicken torpedoes coming at me as I bent down to latch the door open. So, when I locked up at night I kept the chicken wire door shut so that they couldn't fly out. The problem with that was they would fly straight into the chicken wire door and go

so I was truely afraid of broken necks.
Now I just hold the door open for them and don't do anything until they are all out, sort of like the Wal Mart greeter.

 

[ruth]

Quote:
Yep, that's the scenario I get. Best to open that coop door and stand back and wait. I've made the mistake of thinking they were all out and started to walk in door only to get "torpedoed".

It is best NOT to have a screen or wire that they can fly into. I'm not sure how well they see that or discern that it is a wall they can't fly through.

Trust me they will be fine with a 3 foot drop/jump to the ground. The nest boxes mine prefer best have a ladder up to them (they are shoulder height high for me) but they also fly up to them and always jump down from them - I'm estimating they are about 5 feet up. They are the original boxes that came with this 100 year old coop so I'm guessing even chickens of ancient days didn't have a problem either.

 

[BeardedChick]

Trust me they will be fine with a 3 foot drop/jump to the ground.

Mine have been jumping, but since I put a little cinder block in there near the nest boxes, they like to jump down to that first.

What really scared me was turkeys jumping down from the top pitch of the roof - those things could just about make a crater in the patio when they hit ground.

 

[CityChook]

Hee Hee Hee, Buff Hooligans....

Joe, my roost is 3 ft. off the floor. I wanted it high enough that they could look out the windows from the roost. I know, I know. You can stop snickering now. I have Buff Orps and they are voluptuous girls - not exactly skipping any meals. Anyways, they refused to use the ladder (and thus, the roost). So I took out the ladder and put in a landing spot. They wouldn't use that either. So I took that out too. Now they just hop down with a big thud. I make sure that I have an extra thick layer of shavings in the area they land in and hope for the best. So far, so good. Dorks.

 

[joebryant]

CityChook, thanks, you've given me some ideas. My roost is five feet high from the floor. My landing board is two feet high from the floor. I wish that I had something other than a hard board for them to land on when they make that-three foot leap of faith. Yours landing with a "thud" on a soft cushion of wood shavings makes me wonder if maybe I should get another black-plastic cement mixing box that's 2'x3'x9" high and fill it with wood shavings. If I placed that on the landing board, that would make their first hop down just a little more than two feet and their second hop to the floor would be a little more than two feet. That sounds like an ideal solution, and it would be VERY safe for them.

 

[joebryant]

It's 1:20 in the afternoon now, and they're still on the roost. They are really afraid to make that hop. I'm not so sure that this is a good idea. They're surely hungry and thirsty by now. Plus, they're always anxious to get out the pop door into the run and wait for me to come later and let them out to free range in the back yard. Surely they'll make the hop sooner or later today. ? ...maybe not though.