Ladder type roost or roosting shelf pros and cons

[72elizabeth]

elmo. Do you have a picture of the roosts. Sounds like a great idea having them around the perimeter. Thanks

 

[Dirtyhip]

We used some branches. The curve seems best for their feet. Branches were readily available. The girls like them.

We had limited space, so no ladder. Just two removable roosts.

 

[Time-Out]

That's a lovely video of chickens eating, but where are the roosts?

 

[7L Farm]

Here's some bamboo that I found on the beach. This is in my quail pen but I use it for my chickens as well.

 

[bobbieschicks]

Here's what I have - 2x4 on the flat side - all on the same horizontal plane over a sand filled manure box for easy clean up. There is sufficient spacing between the bars so their poop drops into the manure box. I do have to scrape the roost on occasion. But mostly the poop ends up inside the box. It's easy for me to clean up with a cat litter scoop & kids sand scoop. The bigs usually hang out in the back and the littles on the front corner. The littles just started getting up there four days ago from their huddle on the floor.

Here it is before it ever got used and before the ladder. And before I figured out how much easier sand is for clean up - the shavings were a pain in the tush!

Here it is with all my chicks on it three days ago. I have 22 weeks to 8 weeks old all on the same roost area.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

The real determination in what kind of roost you use is where you live.
If it gets very cold, then your birds must be able to cover their toes with their feathers to prevent frostbite.
A chicken can roost on almost anything and if you live in a mild climate a dowel or tree branch is no problem.
But if it gets well below freezing, look to see if you can see your birds toes when they're roosting, if you can, then you need wider roosts or risk losing toes.

 

[bairo]

The only real reason some of us use 2x4's with wide side up is because we experience cold winters. Wide side up forces the chickens to sit on their feet at night so they dont get frost bit. I think 2x3, 2x4 with narrow side up is better if you live in a warm climate. It has already been mentioned that anything over 1.5 - 2 inches wide catches too much poop (it does). I had a ladder to start but converted to all same level due to fighting over top roost. The picture above with multiple same level roosts and that really nice sand filled poop box is a great design in my experience.

 

[bairo]

ps. from above post. You see how the same level one I talked about has the roost bars spread out nicely though? You need plenty of room between those bars if you do it like that. Other wise the chickens in front will poop on the chickens on the next bar back, LOL. You should have plenty of room though to make a single that is longer. I go by a min. of 12 inches of roost per bird. There are other opinions though (less and more) mine is longer than that, but they all huddle together on one side of it.

 

[Ole rooster]

Quote:
Are you kidding. Where did you get that theory? If it's cold use a 2X4 and if it's not use a limb. I've don't understand that one. Or at least it's not logical to me. What does a 2X4 do a round 3 inch limb won't do. I don't understand. I hope my chickens toes don't freeze off. They won't ever see a board for a roost pole.

 

[bobbieschicks]

Quote:
Thanks I copied it from another BYC coop design. I wanted a storage space so this design works well for me. Of course the downside is that I hardly get to use the storage side because I kept using it as an outside brooder for my 4to 6 week olds!