Hey peeps! My dad built this really neat roost, it's got three long perches, and the whole thing is built on a giant hinge so when I want to clean I can hook it up on the ceiling of the coop. The only thing is Dad built the roost with square perches? And because of the angle, the chickens were roosting on the corner of the wood. I felt too bad to say anything, he put a lot of time and effort into it (which is rare for him
) but my chickens were falling off and having trouble balancing. And one of our neighbors told me a perch like that could cause bumblefoot (EEK!
) So after racking my brain for something to fix this problem easily, I came upon a 98 cent bag of copper pipe insulators!
VIOLA! Problem was solved. I just popped the foam tubes onto the perches, the chickens were happy, I was happy, life was good. But now my mom is concerned the chickens are going to eat the black foam and get sick or die. I think it's pretty unlikely? They haven't really bothered with them. There was a little bit of exploratory pecking, but then they just seemed to enjoy the "cushy-ness" on their feet. I don't want them to get sick, but I just don't think they're going to eat that foam while they've got a whole run full of grass and bugs to pick at. Do you guys think I'll be alright? Or should I listen to my mom and take the foam out? Thanks so much!!
