Desperate for help - roost pole craziness

[itsren]

It looks like a wonderful, secure home for your chickens. I'm a newbie, and I'm still learning about chickens, but my first thought after seeing the new roost is everyone is going to want to be on the high roost. Those who get stuck roosting below may get pooped on. My perspective on it could just be the angle of the photograph though. I can't really tell the depth distance between roost bars. I have read is that it is important to have a minimum of 12" in front, 12" in back, a minimum of 10" per bird, and to make sure everyone is out of the poop zone. Quite a few people on this site recommend having the roost bar the same height for everyone. That may not be possible if you have varying breeds, though.

 

[Daisy8s]

Is there any chance you had mites in the wood? Someone else described roosting craziness and that was the problem--the chickens were trying to avoid an infested area.

The new roost looks good--but what is the distance from it to the other wall, where maybe there's a chest of some kind? I wish I'd known to build my roost with plenty of fly down room so they could fly off the roost without hitting the opposite wall. I had thought they would hop but actually they glide down so they go quite a distance when they dismount.

 

[RaeRae2]

Ok seriously, I am about ready to cry. Last night was HORRIBLE. I mean absolutely horrible. It was fine around 3 - 4 p.m. They were happily hopping up and down, sitting on all 3 levels, taking naps, cheeping contentendly....

Then it started getting dark. You would think the world was ending. Screaming, fighting, flapping, knocking each other down, flying into the windows, crashing into the walls. 4 of them were stacked on top of each other on that little silver box you see mounted to the wall. We can't take that down so I had to put bird netting up against that wall to keep them off of it.

Feathers flying everywhere, all of them were panting, and you could see their hearts pounding of their chests. The lights were on so it was fully bright in there. So it's not like they were panicked because they couldn't see anything.

Vader, the little deformed Dark Cornish flew over to me and sat right on my lap! Her heart was pounding out of her chest and her mouth was wide open gasping for air, she was so exhausted. I put her aside on the other side of the room on a wooden magazine rack and she slept there. But for now, the shelving unit is still there, so 4 of them roosted on top of that. The other 10 fit very nicely on the top level.

I watched the rooster crash to the floor 3 x because they kept knocking him down. He finally went and sat in a corner on the floor and made no attempt to get back up. After the dust settled, I set him back up there. When I picked him up, he was shaking!

I can't take this much longer. I have had chickens my entire life and I have NEVER witnessed this kind of chaotic freak show over going on a ****** roost pole at night.

My husand is going to build another roost identical to this and we will mount it directly beside this one to double the amount of "top rung" space. This was very simple and quick to build. The bottom rungs were just as steps up, we knew they wouldn't roost down there.

As for mites - it certainly was possible although I did dust everything thoroughly a couple months ago. But this is all brand new wood now, and chickens have never been kept in this room before. The old coop is on the other end of the barn. So everything in here is fresh.

I am about ready to lock the coop door and let it get dark so they huddle down on the ground in their run, and then pick them up one at a time - in the pitch black - and go set them on the pole one at a time. I don't know how else to get them all on the pole in peace.

 

[RaeRae2]

It is 14 feet to the opposite wall.

 

[RaeRae2]

Well, I think my mother figured this out. This is the first time I have ever owned game birds mixed in with the regular layers. It is the game birds that are starting all the ruckus. They keep trying to get higher and higher, even when there is nowhere to go to. In the process they are knocking everybody else down in their quest to get even higher.

I guess we will try to mount another roost way up near the ceiling for the gamey types to go right up tight to the ceiling.

 

[bucky52]

Could there be something in the coop.that is scaring them.

 

[RaeRae2]

I don't think so. They hang out in there during the day absolutely fine without any distress or drama. And they were doing this in their old coop as well, and it was an entirely different setup than what they have currently. I really do think it's happening because of the game birds are so frantic about getting higher and higher, even when there is no more "higher" to get to!

 

[Coop de Grille]

I have four roosts that vary from 2 ft to 4 ft high. I also have an 6ft high wire wall that divides my coop, with two roosts on each side. My chickens fight the same way to see who is going to get not just on TOP of the wall, but up on the cross beam that is above it at 8 ft high. They knock each other off of the cross beam while trying to step over each other. The end result is the same chicks get the "good" spots each night. I don't know why the other ones even bother lol.

Top of the wire wall that divides the coop:



Cross beam that is at the 8 ft height:

 

[mondotomhead]

Coop de Grille:

I love your christmas lights

Do they serve a purpose or do you just like them?

 

[Coop de Grille]

I put them up because my girls would not go in the coop at night. I would spend 20 mins chasing them around the run trying to get them in. We are pretty rural and street lights are brought back off the street next to our houses here. Mine lights up their run, making the coop look dark and scary lol. I didn't want to run the heat lamp I had when they were little. I found the xmas lights in Goodwill so I put them up and they went into the coop with no problem. I haven't had to turn them on in a few weeks, but I haven't gotten around to taking them down.