Official BYC Poll: What Kind of Roost(s) Do You Have Installed?

[Tashua]

Lots of humans overlook the importance of roosts (aka perches), but chickens don't. The natural way for a chicken to sleep is by sitting on a roost. Nope, they don't like beds or the ground. Only hens with chicks, injured chickens, and sometimes silkies (if they can't reach the roost) will sleep on the ground. In the wild, a flock of chickens tries to get as high off the ground as they can at night, most often in the branches of a tree. They do this to help them stay safe from land predators. Moral: please provide your chickens roosts to sleep on!

What kind of roost(s) do you have installed?

Multiple answers are possible and please tell us if you did anything to prevent foot or mite problems /show us your roost with a picture down in the comments section.

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Here are some interesting reads:

• The perch experiment
• Perch for roost, shape/size experimental findings

If you are wondering what roost shapes other keepers of chickens use, check out this thread:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...osts-do-you-use-in-your-chicken-coop.1403365/

(Check out more Official BYC Polls HERE!)

We ripped 2x4 the long way & just slightly took edges off - they seem to like them

 

[Tashua]

I use thick branches. No exposed toes when they sit down. They seem happy.

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Omg they appear to be actually posing for the picture too cute !!

 

[Tashua]

I use branches and 2x4 but non of my 8 gals like to roost they all want to just sleep right inside the coop door way ugh . Think thier broken lol

I had 2 that did the same forever , seems to have been they were afraid of the VERY mean Roo , who attacked everything . He’s gone , they roost now with the others

 

[BY Bob]

I use thick branches. No exposed toes when they sit down. They seem happy.

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How did you ever get them to line up like that? Mine would never!

 

[GC-Raptor]

My bought coop has 2"x 3" narrow side up.

My Rocks have been through 3 winters without frost bitten toes with temps down to -7 F/-22 C.

The coop I built, I installed 2"x 3" wide side up, corners were slightly rounded, but a little rough in spots, I sanded a little more to remove rough edges.

The biggest difference I've noticed is poop is more likely found on the surface of the wide side up roosts in the morning.

please tell us if you did anything to prevent foot or mite problems

As for roost mites, never had any in nearly 5 years.
I do preventive maintenance during my weekly coop cleaning with a lite dusting of Permethrin on roosts, especially where they mount at the wall. GC

 

[Chickies11]

My Omlet Eglu comes with a roost area with a plastic roost bars that lift out in one piece. Below is a tray to catch droppings, which acts like a cat litter box. Super easy to clean every day and hens like it.

I have the same thing! I agree, it is easy to clean

 

[Mrs. K]

I use old fence posts, varying thicknesses, but I keep all my roosts at the same level.

I recently got a pop up door that automatically closes, which must reduce a draft, so they have spread out more on the roost.

Mrs K

 

[rebeccaH86]

I have some rescue hens that never had a roost before and wont sleep on it now. They pile up ontop of eachother in one of the nest boxes . Even tho i boot them out every night, they still find their way back in the dark. Lol

They use to love roosting when they were little but now thier big girls the refuse to it's so weird .

 

[eggsandhens]

I transformed an old dog run/house (it’s bigger than a doghouse I just don’t what it’s called) into a coop. So naturally there would be chainlink fences inside of it kind of creating large “cages”. Well I took off the doors, and snipped off the chain link so there was just the base of it (the poles). And it works pretty well!

 

[Bridget B]

2X3 Wide side up. The edges have been rounded slightly. They seem to fit the feet comfortably.