Ladder type roost or roosting shelf pros and cons

[bairo]

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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.

LOL. Your kind of looking a bit uninformed, not to mention rude. I dont suppose you have to worry about it being in the part of the country you are in. It does not get far enough below freezing for long enough there so you have to worry about it. That "theory" is very widely accepted. It is not something new. Many Chicken keepers much more experienced than you have been doing it for a very long time in certain parts of the country. I could understand if it was a new theory, but it is not. You might want to stick to what you have experience with or try to educate yourself one.

 

[bairo]

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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!

lol, I know what you mean. I started with a section in my 10x20 shed. now the lawnmower is outside and I have 3 small coops in there. I had to make the divider doors 24 inches wide trying to squeeze more space for the chickens and new brooder area. Darn chicken math, arghh

 

[WestfarthingHomestead]

I like Georgiagail's roost and I'll go with the wide flat roost, either a 2by4 or a small log. We live in Alaska, so I don't want the chickie tootsies getting cold.

I'd never heard of that but it makes perfect sense to me, come to think of it.

 

[bairo]

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They have a sense of humor dont they? I think the harder they see you work on a beautiful roost like that, the more they are determined to roost in the rafters. I swear I hear them out there planing how they are going to mess with me sometimes.

I only have three that love the rafters. At least they have the decency to scoot over one from above the other roost so as not to poop on the hens below

 

[WestfarthingHomestead]

It seems to vary by breed, doesn't it? I noticed my chickie-poos will go for the very highest perch they can find.

 

[Time-Out]

I've noticed my chickens have these flaps of feathers that they tuck over their feet when they're roosting. I'll take a photo tonight (if they're in the section I can see from the door). I'm hoping the tree branches will be fine. Mine have never seemed to really be able to get comfortable on a flat piece of wood. I had tried a 2x3 for a while, large side up, but they hated it. Fussy chickens!

 

[kuntrygirl]

Here are pics of all of the different type roosts that I have for my birds.

 

[Ole rooster]

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Let the rude one say something here. I would almost bet you the flap of feathers you speak of would be the same ones they use when hatching new chicks. Till someone starts making socks and little booties for chickens looks like these feathers will have to do.

In spite of some peoples thinking, an opinion repeated for 20 years does not make that opinion the correct way of doing any given thing. But then some folks are afflicted with cognitive disidence. That is if a thought comes along that is different from what they believe, the brain shuts it out because if they don't believe it then it's not true. For some reason I would think chickens have been in existance longer that humans, and they still have their toe growing. I believe that because God did make animals before man. Truth is really not that bad even though it does rub some the wrong way.

By the way, tell your dad he did a might good job on the coop. It sure does look large enough. Looks very solid.

 

[BWKatz]

I use an old staircase of 4 steps turned on its side so that they sit on the 2" side and can sit on the lower steps to be protected from wind if they want to. Even my silkies make it to the top and all 10 sqrunch together on the top at night. All the poop falls thru to the sand below where it can easily be raked up.

 

[Time-Out]

That's a Friesian and a Sebright, but I also have a Barnevelder and Araucanas that sleep up there. The perch is 1.5" wide. Obviously, if the perch was longer, I'd make it a lot thicker to cope with the extra weight of the birds