Depends on the hens. My Silkies are pile-on-the-floor roosties and will cuddle in the nestboxes. They will use the perches during the day but at night they cuddle in the nestboxes - I don't mind - better than on the floor where they might get pooped on. My larger hens used to sleep in our old little coop nestboxes. But since I got the new Barn Coop I decided to set up a 2x4 plank for them. The silly girls preferred the rounded-edge 2x2 perches that came with the coop. Now, we never forced our birds to sleep in any particular place. The LFs used to sleep in the old coop nestboxes and when they all were transferred to using the new Barn Coop they didn't pick the nestboxes, but chose the rounded-edge perches. The 2x4 was ignored. Hey, as long as the girls are happy where they sleep, I'm happy! We have only 4 chickens so the arrangement works for us. I've seen owners use round natural branches, 2x2 or 3x3 rounded-edge perches, 2x4 planks, nestboxes, etc. The chickens pick the spots they like no matter what you put up. Experiment and see what they like. I personally believe in lots of space for chickens and that way there's no squabbling as they settle for the night. Our two Silkies head straight for a nestbox while our two LFs each go to a window seat perch.
The new Barn Coop has a rounded-edge roost pole under each window and the two LFs each get a "window seat."
During assembly -- 5 roosting perches came with this Barn Coop. 3 roosting mounts are seen below the windows with 2 more roosting mounts above the windows for more perches. We only needed to mount 2 perches (one under each window).
Our old little coop where the Silkies and the LFs all slept in the nestboxes. It had a 2x2 perch that was only occasionally used.
