Do chickens enjoy climbing rocks?

[meghan111377]

I don't have chickens yet but we are trying to determine the best location for a coop and run. Preparation is everything, right? We have a very large rock in our yard that is only slightly sloped and about 3 feet high on it's tallest point. Could this area be fenced in for the run or does the ground have to be level and softer for chicken bliss? The run will be much bigger if the rock can be included and certainly wouldn't be the only ground available. Thank you in advance for any responses.

 

[bburn]

I think they would love the rock. They love having something to 'get up on'....especially the rooster.

We left the brooder in the run when we moved the chickens out there.....why? I have no idea and I questioned my husband many times over the past year as to the reason. Now I have eggs in the incubator and a small brooder to put them in....but I want the big one. The run has a wire top on it that will have to be lifted off while we move it out....so there has been a delay in getting it done.

It was made from the old liner from a pick up bed....we recycle out here a lot. He put two 2x10's on the end to close it off and built a frame with chicken wire in it for the top. We cut out a square to put in food and water and I had something I could use to close that off. With 29 chicks it worked great! In fact they stayed out there longer than we meant for them to do and it just seemed easier to drag the whole thing out there than to try and catch them. The neat thing about this liner is it had been in the woods for a long time and had decayed leaves and dirt in the bottom and the chicks, who were feathered out by then went nuts digging and scratching in it.

But the point of telling you that is so you would have some idea of the height of this thing. Above knee high. They all get up on it and walk around and take in the views. When we take it out next month not only will they go crazy for the bugs under it but that is new scratching ground for them. I will have to replace it with something for them to get up on!

The other run has a 'chicken cabana' in it. I made it from a crate that was given to me and put it on bricks to keep it off the dirt and possible decay. It is a pallet with sides. I put a piece of tin from the barn on top for a roof and a roost inside for just in case. The pullets used to get inside and hang out. The rooster gets on top every morning and crows from there. Often the girls are on top with him.

So, yep on the rock....it will entertain them.

 

[meghan111377]

Thank you so much. All the pictures I've seen of coops were on level ground so it seemed that rock might not work. My thought was that a rock to climb is good exercise and like a chicken playground. I'm glad my idea of chicken bliss is not warped.

Thank you again. I'm so flippen excited to get my plans together for next years chicks. YEAH!!

 

[bburn]

You are quite welcome. I have four big rocks at the bottom of the garden, next to the coops.....I would love to find a way to get them into the run when we move the 'brooder' out.

Another thing besides entertainment with something in the run like that would be if you intergrated new chickens at some point. It gives them someplace to get away from a pecking hen! When I put the two new girls in I also put up and big piece of tin across the shade area....they could run under it and hide from the others. Speaking of recycling....we do live out in the boonies....we used an old satillite dish leaned up against the chain link fence before we covered the top of the run for a shade area....with an added bonus...the lip collects water!

In the hot summer they all dust bathe under it....when it is raining it gives them someplace else to go besides the coop....and they love it when I run water into the lip.

AND the times I have moved the brooder around the pen they LOVE the bugs under it!

 

[dnowa1975]

our chickens love to climb up on rocks, stumps, a bench, bales of straw, and occasionally the coops if they can.....think they like being tall

 

[elmo]

Chickens don't really "climb" though, certainly not the way that parrots do. They can walk, hop, jump and fly though. And the other commenter is right that they will like sitting on top of the rock.

 

[Kaitie09]

we have a very large uprooted stump that we could not move, so we just built the run around it. They love to get on top of it, and it has little holes where we put meal worms. When the weather is nice there are bugs that live in it. The chickens spend hours trying to go after all of them.