Idea for Keeping Chickens Off the Furniture!

[Then I Will]

Hey all,
So I found a buffet deck/hutch Free on the side of the road some months ago. We intended to use it in our dining room but it wasn't working out, so we are putting it in the coop as a nesting box apartment!
I'm going to add the contrasting coral color to the primed panels today. But the FINISHING touch is going to have to be a way to keep those birds from roosting on it!

I'd like some ideas.
A couple things I'm thinking up are- Gluing objects uncomfortable to their feet up top. (And ideas as to what objects might work? Glass bottles? Brick-a-brack from thrift stores?)
Tacking chicken wire slanted up the wall (would like to avoid this due to eyesore)
When I considered rods too narrow for their feet, I considered they might just stand in-between the rods.
Is there anything chickens really don't like to step on?

Thanks in advance ya'll!

 

[Kiki]

Nice find!
Maybe instead of chicken wire slanted you could add a slanted piece of plywood and paint it to match, make it look like it is part of the furniture?


I would think it your put "stuff" up there they would still try to find a way to get comfy on it and poop all over it.

 

[Chickassan]

You could add some baskets up top that would stop roosting and extend nesting possibilities.

 

[TalkALittle]

Slanted piece of plywood. Any "stuff" you put up there is just going to get dusty as all heck.

 

[Then I Will]

Slanted piece of plywood. Any "stuff" you put up there is just going to get dusty as all heck.

Yeah.... Coops do get dusty.
I like the basket idea by they would need anchored down and would be hard to clean out that way. Also, I really don't need that many nests. They always have a favorite they fight over. We know how that goes.

I've run the plywood idea past the husband. If he doesn't want to give that a go, I'll try some hard to stand on bottles glued down and see what happens. If it fails, we shall request the plywood from husband again and call it a lesson learned.

 

[aart]

Do waste time(or money) on other things, go for the angled plywood.
make it steep at least 45 degrees if not steeper.

 

[blackdog043]

Yep, plywood on a slant is the only thing going to work well! Do it once and be done! Make sure the plywood goes from the front to to the back wall. It can be 1/4" underlayment. Look up metal nest boxes, they all have slanted roofs for this reason.

 

[Then I Will]

This coop is a honeymooner's project- if that explains the seeming push for flamboyancy over practicality. I'm sort of building a castle in the sky just because I can and because the coop is my place to hang out also. I've finally been able to get out of the house, away from the home business, and spend time outdoors, working on this coop.

I understand the whole idea of spikes on fences is to keep people from climbing and sometimes to keep animals off as well. So my plan was to situate (glue down) the bottles in such a way as to make sitting on them, walking over them, very uncomfortable if not impossible. The idea is, awkwardly different heights, small lips, and slippery slopes. And of course, I would have to have two rows of these to cover even the ledge.

So apparently, even rows of pyramids don't deter chickens from walking?
I thought perhaps the photo of the bottles would clarify what I was thinking.

 

[aart]

I'm sort of building a castle in the sky just because I can and because the coop is my place to hang out also. I've finally been able to get out of the house, away from the home business, and spend time outdoors, working on this coop.

Ah, so it's kinda like a 'She-Shed'.... with chickens!?
I knew what you meant about the bottles, and it will probably work.
After they try a few times and fail,
hopefully no injuries will occur during that learning curve.
Did you use a permanent 'glue' or are the bottles expendable?

 

[TalkALittle]

If you want bottles up there and have the time and inclination to dust them (or maybe don't mind dust and cobwebs and stray feathers getting on them) then who am I to say you shouldn't give them a go.

Don't be so sure you won't get someone roosting there, though. I once found one of my bantam roosting on the tip-top of the handle of a broom that I had left wedged upright in the coop.