Flat or round roost?????

[bleith]

I recently have been chatting in another thread and this topic came up. About a year ago when I was searching for information on this topic I was led to believe flat. I currently use a 1x4 and it seems fine,but should I be sing something round?

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Flat.

 

[DTchickens]

I use a lot of different things for roosts. I use 1X4's mostly, along with 2X4's, and have even cut some trees up that were cut down and made roosts out of them. I prefer trees over all else, kind of a more natural approach. Don't know why, it just appeals to me more.



God bless,
Daniel.

 

[maggiec1951]

Thank you, thank you, thank you all. My husband has vehemently disagreed with me and put round (2") roosts in our girls coop and they very seldom use them, preferring instead to cram all five of their 5 month old bodies into one nesting box (flat bottom, duh).

 

[dirtsaver]

Quote:
2x4s are best for standard chickens. Be sure to have the 4" side faced up and not the 2" side. That way the hens can sit on the perch and their feet will be covered by their body and protected from frostbite and freezing. 2" round roosts are not sufficent for chickens like Orpingtons,Bramhas,Speckled Sussex amd the like

 

[Starlight 451]

We have flat ones, and the chickens seem happy on those.

 

[centrarchid]

Round vs. flat seems not to matter to birds. Flat is sometimes easier for me to acquire or mount to supports so my preference is for flat when birds roosting in a protected location. If birds are exposed to wind chill, round or rounded is preferred by me since I think (nothing to back up though) birds may be able to cover feet better on round roost pole.

 

[azygous]

When I built the additions onto my coop, I was also doing a lot of tree thinning on my property. I decided to take out the 2" x 4" roost and install 4" diameter pine boughs. I shaved them, but left enough bark so the chickens can get better traction. Two years later, I can attest that these perches are a wonderful success, the roundness is extremely suited for the shape of their feet and roosting posture, and they seem to be far more comfortable than they were on the former 2" x 4" flat perch.

In the run, I have a 2" x 4" perch, and a 4" diameter tree bough. The one that gets used the most is the tree bough.

My chickens have voted, and the 4" diameter round perch won, hands down. Or claws down, as it were.

 

[BlazeJester]

I'm going to go against the grain and say find a natural solution. I have 2 ~2.5-3" diameter pieces of limbs that fell off the oak tree in my yard. No corners, no flat side/short side... just a tree.

I'll put a disclaimer that my first hatchery flock roosted in a tree for 2 years, and my current hatchery flock has a run without a coop and they sleep on a tree limb. They're birds and in a place like the Southeast, they do just fine without any sort of coddling.

Edited for clarification.

 

[Anna_MN]

I use 2 inch diameter pine branches. We had been doing some tree trimming when we were building our coop so we decided to use these. I sanded down the nubs left by the little branches and left the bark on. I have one 3ft long roost, one 2ft roost, and one 1 foot roost. They prefer to all be on the 3ft long roost together at night. They use the other ones during the day. I have mine set about 5 inches off the ground. Hope this helps! Here are a couple pictures (please excuse my two naked backed Rhode Island Reds, the rooster at their previous home wasn't very nice to them)-