Do meat birds require a roost in their coop/run?

[typnslow]

My broody is sitting on cornish x hatching eggs.
I am designing and building a coop/run for my meaties out of pallets
Do I need to incorporate a roost for meat birds? Most of the meats bird housing photos I have seen on-line look to short to have a place for a roost?

 

[Anna_MN]

Some people suggest that you don't put in a roost when you are raising a heavy breed meatie like a cornish x because it can cause breast blisters. However, I had roosts in my coop and the meaties were too fat and lazy to hop up on them so they didn't use them anyways.

 

[Beekissed]

I have 5 wk old CX roosting on places as high as 2 and a half feet and higher in my coop. I just provided them with a wide board as they have a difficult time balancing their breast on a thick, rounder roost.

 

[typnslow]

thanks for the input, I will be starting on a coop/run for the meaties in the next few days.
I'll post pic on the thread I started to journal this great adventure!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/658403/bisket-the-broody-a-voyage-into-meat-birds

 

[Buster52]

I suppose you could give them a roost, but I'm not sure I see the point. They seem quite content to squat on their fat little bellies right on the ground.

 

[Beekissed]

That's true.

I do it to satisfy their instinct and to provide a more natural setting for them. They instinctively want to roost, so I make that available for them for as long as they can avail themselves of it. I like my animals to have a pretty normal life while they are here, whether they are going to be killed soon for eating or not. I have that luxury, so why not? It keeps them cooler at night because they can't instinctively huddle in a large group for safety~which is exactly what they do when on the ground....on the wide roost they can only lay side by side in a long line with air in front and in behind. More cool + more comfort=better rest. To quote someone: "Letting them express their chickeny-ess" or some such phrasing....

I would say that those raising for profit don't really fit that into their paradigm because it has little worth, monetarily speaking, and the actual living of the animal hasn't as much importance or value as the their end worth.

 

[typnslow]

I have decided to put a wide roost close to the ground in the enclosed part. When the are too fat to jump down without hurting themselves they won't have far to fall.

 

[LilyD]

We started out with low roosts but they were climbing anything to get higher so we ended up doing tiered roosts throughout the coop. They do like roosting if you provide them.

 

[jacobkelly15]

NO!!! broilers do not need a roost!! they can fly nwhen they are chicks 3-4 weeks old but when they get fat they cant fly and wont be able to get on the roost, my broiler pen is old chick grow pen.

 

[LilyD]

I think it's a matter of preference. I don't do CRX personally but the ones I did have in the past still enjoyed roosting and would roost on the feeder, waterer and anything else they could find. They can't get too high off the ground but they still like to feel like they are lol.