Do my little chicks need a perch to stand on?

[MollyBlane1]

Whenever I take my chicks (about 3 weeks old) out to play or move them around, they seem to want to stay on my finger regardless of the fact that they do not love me picking them up. I was wondering if they like having something to wrap their little feet around, rather than just walking/standing flat-footed.

 

[Lady Chickadee]

Yes, it would be a good idea to give your chicks a perch to stand/sleep on. We made a mini perch out of some scrap wood for our chicks.

 

[MollyBlane1]

Thank you!

I think I will just get a skinny piece of wood and poke a hole through either side of their box to suspend it. Hopefully this will work!

 

[3forfree]

My 6 chicks are 3 weeks old,and they will perch on anything that's in the brooder. feeder, waterer, each other, anything they can get their feet on.

 

[LaynaDon95]

I made my perch out scrap wood and toilet paper tubes.

 

[Chemguy]

I bought a wooden yardstick from the paint section of a big box store and placed it so the wide edge was available for perching. They loved it.

 

[Ole rooster]

Mine range all day and I see them all the time up on something all lined up in a row. Yesterday the chickens found a 6 inch tree that had blown over about five feet off the ground. They were all line up too. I guess when you're as short as chickens get up in the air a way always help in the view.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Using a small stick of wood, or just employing sturdy sticks you can find in the yard or woods, is a wonderful addition to any brooder. Their instinct is to jump up on them, to rest on them and eventually, to sleep on branches. Roosts mimic a tree branch. The sooner this instinct is encouraged, the better.

 

[littlels]

Does anyone else have any pictures, ideas on how to implement the roost for the little chickies? For some reason, I'm just having a hard time implementing the idea which I think is wonderful!

 

[Hunter0704]

You can pick up a few dowel rods at Lowes, for instance, and suspend it across a corner of the brooder for them to perch on. I had my first chicks in a kennel so it was easy to suspend a dowel across the corner...once they figured out what it was for, they loved it.