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- #11
I would watch them as they roam in the yard Mine when they free range just use the ground with the exception of my bantum roo who likes to jump up high to crow.
Inside my coop they range my Brahma and my Silkie roo roost aprox 2 ft off the ground (Brahma is a heavy breed and she doesnt like the leap, Silkies dont have flight feathers per say so he only goes as high as he can jump)
I have others mid range and a few that like to roost at the very top of the coop about 8 ft high.
Some of my ladies do like to roost at night in the run and just use the coop for laying.
I would make the run area taller I would go at least as high as the coop if you are going to expand just so they can flap and jump if they want to. 3 or 4 ft high. How elaborate you want it to be since it is basically a safe zone when you go on vacation consider how many vacations you take and remember if they dont like it for the first vacation you can expand again if need arises before the next one.
They do spend most of the time just using the ground when they free range ... occasional spurts of flying that startled me at first because I didn't realize chickens could get off the ground like that. I suppose they're still young and as they get older (and heavier), they won't be lifting off the ground as much. I just wanted to make sure they have enough freedom to go play as free as they'd like.
We're not carpenters so can't be too elaborate but it would be nice to make the run larger so that it's easier to let them free range on a permanent basis regardless of our vacation schedule. We don't get out of town that often at all for a prolonged period of time other than maybe once every two years.