Is it ok for chickens to jump down from roosting bars or do they need some type of climbing 'ladder'?

[grannyhensdream]

All of my chickens, Rhode island Reds and Green eggers, all use the roosting bars at night. I have no mechanism for them to climb up to or down from the bars. I thought that I read somewhere that they shouldn't jump down from the roosting bars. They are about 3' off the ground, maybe a bit lower. Thanks for any thoughts.

 

[3KillerBs]

Most of my chickens fly up and down from bars between 3 and 4 feet.

My coop is, however, very large so there is plenty of room for them to get up and down flying at about a 45-degree angle without crashing into walls, etc..

I also have a ramp up to one part of the roost and another place where they can jump up from a lower roost in shorter hops.

 

[saysfaa]

The main reason for not jumping down very far is the repeated jarring of the landing can result in issues like arthritis. This is a bigger risk in larger birds, in long lived birds, and if your bedding is thin or otherwise less resilient.

Mine roost is about 5 1/2 feet above the floor. I usually have a full foot of particularly bouncy bedding (mostly dried lawn clippings and dry maple leaves, some pine shavings, general forest and garden debris). I can see the bounce when one lands.

In a perfect set up, I might try to have lower roosts but I have only just enough space so it is more important that they be able to use all the floor space.

They have a platform part way down. Sometimes they use it, sometimes they don't. It seems to me they use it only when it is in the way to where they are going.

If I replaced layers every year or two for other reasons then how high the roost is would matter less than if I wanted to keep these hens as long as they are healthy.

 

[aart]

All of my chickens, Rhode island Reds and Green eggers, all use the roosting bars at night. I have no mechanism for them to climb up to or down from the bars. I thought that I read somewhere that they shouldn't jump down from the roosting bars. They are about 3' off the ground, maybe a bit lower. Thanks for any thoughts.

That should be fine s long as they have room to spread their wings to slow the decent.

 

[Dakota8472]

All of my chickens, Rhode island Reds and Green eggers, all use the roosting bars at night. I have no mechanism for them to climb up to or down from the bars. I thought that I read somewhere that they shouldn't jump down from the roosting bars. They are about 3' off the ground, maybe a bit lower. Thanks for any thoughts.

3 feet is probably fine. but at some point u may get bigger chickens, or a chicken with 1 wing, or otherwise disabled or old that will need another option.

 

[grannyhensdream]

Most of my chickens fly up and down from bars between 3 and 4 feet.

My coop is, however, very large so there is plenty of room for them to get up and down flying at about a 45-degree angle without crashing into walls, etc..

I also have a ramp up to one part of the roost and another place where they can jump up from a lower roost in shorter hops.

Thanks for your reply! I think they all do well and have room. They are awesome at flying! Just wanted to be sure they wouldn't hurt their feet or legs. Thanks!

 

[Dakota8472]

Thanks for your reply! I think they all do well and have room. They are awesome at flying! Just wanted to be sure they wouldn't hurt their feet or legs. Thanks!

i redid my roosts yesterday in preperations for winter. i found my younger light brahma not wanting to jump off this am, and the older one was already off. but the older one slept above the ladder of roosts she slept without being over the roost ladder.

 

[grannyhensdream]

The main reason for not jumping down very far is the repeated jarring of the landing can result in issues like arthritis. This is a bigger risk in larger birds, in long lived birds, and if your bedding is thin or otherwise less resilient.

Mine roost is about 5 1/2 feet above the floor. I usually have a full foot of particularly bouncy bedding (mostly dried lawn clippings and dry maple leaves, some pine shavings, general forest and garden debris). I can see the bounce when one lands.

In a perfect set up, I might try to have lower roosts but I have only just enough space so it is more important that they be able to use all the floor space.

They have a platform part way down. Sometimes they use it, sometimes they don't. It seems to me they use it only when it is in the way to where they are going.

If I replaced layers every year or two for other reasons then how high the roost is would matter less than if I wanted to keep these hens as long as they are healthy.

Thanks. I assume that you do the deep litter method? I change out their bedding every day because of the poop. I use poop boards but the way the prefab coop was designed there is only so much room for the poop boards. Next year I would love to get a much larger coop to accommodate more efficient poop boards, although, they only sleep and lay eggs in the coop. Mostly they are outside in the runs. Thanks for you reply!!

 

[grannyhensdream]

That should be fine s long as they have room to spread their wings to slow the decent.

Ah! Ok thank you!

 

[saysfaa]

It is deep bedding (the dry version) rather than deep litter (the composting version). I scoop the poop board everyday; that gets about half of mess. The rest is turned under as they scratch through the bedding. This is only my second year of having chickens, so I've only cleaned it out once, after about 15 months, mostly because it seemed I should even though I didn't see or smell much mess. But I have a kinda hybrid coop/run so the space is sized for that (14 sq feet per hen, and they use the platforms as floor space sometimes, that probably helps it work with infrequent clean outs. I didn't see or smell much mess in what I took out, either.