Little chicken ladder?

[LadyWoodsong]

We recently put our 12 young pullets into a chicken house we had to do a lot of work on to get it livable. It already had a "roost" in there (a 2x4, narrow side facing up). It is approximately 3 1/2 feet off of the ground and my chickens are only about 12 weeks old.

Do I need to have one of those chicken ladders/steps (whatever you call them) for them to get up to the roost? Or will they find their own way up there? I have seen them flutter up to another board to sit on, which is probably 1/2 as high as the other roost I am referring to.

And do I need one of those ladders/steps outside of their pop-up door to go outside? I currently don't have one, it's about a foot to get down to the ground. If I need one, can I just use a plain board?

Thanks!

 

[pattgal]

I don't know why people use ramps for the outdoor part. if we use on it will be merely for looks. at a foot high i don't think they need one
maybe it helps them get in in the sense that they don't like jumping in confined areas?? I don't know
I just put a temporary roost in our coop. the walls and isulation is done but we still need to cut out holes for the window and door and put in nestboxes and do the roosts
for now i just but a big branch in there. at first i had just put it in slanted to make sure everyone could reach, because i have babies mixed in with 5 week old ones. then one of my babies got caught all the way at the top so i decided it was too much for the wee ones.
I ended up putting the whole thing about 2.5 feet off the ground and the 5 week olds get up somehow. they can jump quite high and they do the rest with their wings
the roo dosent like it but hey thats his problem
I plan on making a zig zag pattern for our final roost so they can get to the top and putting it in the oposite side as the nest boxes because apparently if the roost is too low they will sleep in the nest boxes instead of on the roosts

 

[gryeyes]

I would turn that 2x4 so the wide side is up - it gives the chickens someplace to tuck their feet under the bodies.

I ALSO find that youngsters are slow to roost anyway, so the 3.5 feet tall roost might be okay for them. They'll be slow to roost anyway (just my experience), but when they do, they can get up there (unless you have Brahmas or Jersey Giants or something really big and heavy. The roost in my new coop is 2.5 ft off the floor, and my BO makes that distance okay.

Dunno about the ladder. Others may chime in on that. Good luck!