Best type of roost? Weigh in with your design opinion.

[jetdog]

sorry phone had a brain fart

 

[Kazfam]

mamazeta - your picture did not show up.

I do not use PDZ but have heard good things about it. We actually filled the bottom of the coop with sand - it works beautifully. Bought one of those large cat litter scoops - my son cleans it every morning and dumps the poop into the compost (you can see the compost in the bottom picture).

I'd love to see your coop...

 

[Kazfam]

jetdog - GORGEOUS !!!

 

[JanetS]

Here's a picture of our roost. They have plenty of room but they fight every night for the right spot. We are thinking of adding a second roost to see if it will help. It's a 2 x 4 sideways.

 

[A1momof3]

Well, after a lot of reading and thinking I went with the limbs. It also helped that we had to cut down and clean out the area where the pen was going and I ended up with some really great limbs and they LOVE it! They are so funny, they each have their own way of getting up there and they have their own spots!!


I have done some painting since this picture but they all line up on the top limb and they all have their own spot.

 

[Mellow1]

My hens prefer tree limbs over 2x4's. I did an experiment with a 2x4 in one corner and a 3" tree limb in another corner at same height, they all flew up on the tree limb. Then changed up the corners, just switched em. Still they preferred the limb. Could be my madam hen preferred the branch over the 2x4 and the rest played follow the leader

 

[Dead Rabbit]

My experience is 2x4 turned on end so they have an inch / half surface. Flat boards don't allow the natural curling of toes which is how they grip. Dropping boards are filthy even when cleaned. IMO. My roosts are all asme level because they will compete for highest roost. They are 4 ft high with a jump board at 3 ft. Chicken ladders lead to jump board then from board to actual roost but few use the ladders. They fly to board then to roost boards. The nest boxes are same level as jump board. They can step right from board to nests. I use dep litter method which is much cleaner and supply a nice soft supple landing when jumping to floor from jump board

 

[triplepurpose]

I currently am using ladder style, two of them, but they only have two "rungs." I may them wider than they are tall, and they use the bottom one to jump up to the top (about 3 or 4 feet off the floor), which helps, as we keep most of their wings clipped. The ladders aren't fixed to anything, they just lean against the walls, so I can move them around or pull them out to muck. I made them in a few minutes out of scrap wood, branches, and old nails and screws, nothing special. Deep litter underneath absorbs all droppings, and if they do pile up, it takes two seconds to "stir" under the roosts with a rake we keep handy for that purpose, and problem solved.

Ladders work fine, as long as you realize that they are going to actually roost only on the top one and design accordingly. But I've use a lot of different perches, heights, and styles in the past, and the chickens seemed equally content with all of them--they'll roost on anything they can. Do make your roosts higher than your nest boxes though, whatever you do, or they'll likely choose the boxes to roost in/on instead and that gets disgusting and annoying quickly.

 

[topdog24]

My grandparents who raised 14 children through the great depression and all the old timers i have ever known used the 45 degree ladder style roosts, one issue is space, another is that chickens need to establish a pecking order to really thrive and develop into healthy normal broods. I never saw anything other than 2" diameter hardwood saplings with a notch cut halfway through at the end to mount them to the horizontal runners, attached with nails, however 2 1/2 " screws would be fine, your best hens are usually the more dominate hens which will always claim the top roost for their own, this keeps them safer from predators that may get into your house/coop, predators go for the easy kill 99.9 % of the time, if you loose a bird, you do not want to loose your best ones, now a mink and weasel is something different, they will wipe out the whole brood in just a few minutes just for the thrill, and leave without ever taking a bite from even one carcass. I have seen that more than once, unless you hear the commotion and intervene.

 

[Ilikehorses]

I used 2 black plastic sawhorses (cost me $20) with two 10ft 2x4's. Cheap, easy to remove and clean, work great!