Do chickens need a perch inside their nest box?

[broe]

do you have to have a perch in a nest box or just when they dont have a nest box

 

[Snakeoil]

I've never put a perch in a nest box, I have perches about 6 feet from there boxes.

 

[broe]

do you have to have perches in your pen? and what size wood should i use for them?

 

[Southernbelle]

No. You don't want to put perches in there because where they perch, they poop, and you don't want poo in the nest box or the eggs will get icky.

 

[greathorse]

It is a chicken's instinct to roost "perch" at night when they sleep. You should for sure have a roost for them. Most folks use a 2x4 flat ways. This works good in the winter because it keeps their toes under their feathers so they dont get frost bite on their toes. The boards should be rounded off a bit if you can. Some beleive that they are more comfortable if the roost is not round.

good luck

 

[brian8jr]

Where my perches are located I fenced around underneath it so they can't get all through it. It's on hinges and I just lift it up and clean it out and put it on the compost pile.

 

[patandchickens]

This may be just a confusion of terminology?

Usually when people around here say 'nest box' they mean the little, usually something like 1' square or not too much larger, box that the chicken goes into to lay its egg and then leaves.

Is it possible that broe is talking about the whole indoor *coop*? Which usually contains one nestbox per 3-4 chickens, plus a roost (somewhere distinctly higher than the nestboxes, so they don't sleep/poo in the nestboxes), plus open floor space, and sometimes the waterers and feeders are kept in there too.

You really really don't want them sleeping where they're going to lay eggs -- it makes for extremely pooey nasty eggs.

HTH,

Pat