Need help with roosting bar placement

[cackelcastlex10]

I have 10 girls 5 of which roost all the way in the top of the roof boards they have no problem getting up there but when they get down in the morning they won't use the boards I have added to get down they are flying straight down. Problem is 1 of my RIR keeps hurting her foot. My 5 other 4 month old girls are roosting in the screened in area that hangs out and there is plenty of area for them to roost, but the older girls won't let them. I am concerned that the screen is not good for their feet. Not sure what I should do, does anyone have any thoughts? I have moved the original 4x4 down to right above the nesting boxes and they still flew all the way up to the roof boards. So I added the cross boards hoping they would use them to get down. Which the little girls use but the older girls won't .Thank you in advance for any help.

 

[Judy]

I had to block off some high perches to prevent their roosting that high in my coop. As you've found, your coop is a little narrow to allow them to come down from such a high roof without injury -- and that is not an uncommon cause of leg problems. Now they all happily use my 30" high roosts and don't get leg and foot problems. I don't know why they are reluctant to come down on a ramp or ladder, but if they are, I would remove access to those perches. Maybe you can use chicken wire to prevent access to boards you cant remove for structural reasons.

 

[cackelcastlex10]

That's what I was thinking I needed to do but wanted to get someone else's thought. Should I add 2 2x4 one on each side so the big girls can roost on 1 and the little girls can roost on the other one ? And do you think they should be the same height? And how far away from the wall? I want to make sure they can't reach each other so they leave each other alone I know they will eventually work it out. They get along great during the day and free ranging it's just the pecking order at bed time.

 

[thomasboyle]

I have my perches at 30", and I have 3 of them spaced 18" a part. I originally had then 12" a part, but they could get at each other. I moved them to 18" and that worked well. I keep all of mine at the same height to avoid problems of dominance and fighting over the highest perches. I recommend having more perches than necessary, so the birds have a choice on where to go, in case they don't want to be next to a certain hen or roo.