oh, which is it round limb or 2 by 4 for roost?!!!!!!

[ladyearth]

I was doing the 2 by 4 FLAT... flat... then I THought I read to use a round tree limb......
I thought BEKISSED had this info... which I thought concluded ....LIMB?????
Which is it yall??? Poor Hubby.......... He even changed the roost height from 16 to 24.....
SO I asked Hubby and he cut down 2 small trees that were crowded anyway on back fence.
SO not to drive my wonderful Honey more crazy....LOL.... which is the scientific thing.??

Last two nites had to hand carry each one from small tractor coop roost and push them thru the chute of NEW COOP and close door.....
I know.. creatures of habit...
Cause the newer girls are confused in the new COOP roost with the tree limb.... Course he used a chain saw to remove small branches(being a man, correct?) instead of pruners.. so that tore off some bark...
the older group is a=still in older topper coop with the 2 by 4 flat portable roost.....

thanks all

 

[Ridgerunner]

Here are mine ignoring the narrow ends of the branch. It does need to be strong enough to hold their weight without sagging much.

.

 

[blucoondawg]

Heat isn't necessary at -10. I've had them down to -35F with no heat or insulation in the coop

 

[junebuggena]

Honestly, you are probably overthinking the whole thing. All the chickens really care about is a comfy spot up high to sleep on. As long as the branches are a wide enough diameter, they will use them. They are stressed from moving to a new coop. The roost isn't a problem, it's the whole 'newness' of everything. They will adjust, but it will take time.

 

[Pork Pie]

Hi, nothing is caste in stone. I use both tree limbs and planks - my birds prefer tree limbs it seems.
It may help to keep your chickens in lockdown in the new coop for 48 hours to encourage them to recognise it as home.

As long as your roost is higher than the nest boxes they do not need to be very high. I lowered mine from about 1m to 45cm the other day and the less agile chickens seem to approve.

Ct

 

[ladyearth]

Yeah I know I did the whole moving from coop before. It took a few days. We even moved the whole double kennel run 10 by 20 ...hdwe cloth etc intact.... and COOP, rolled it down hill.....
Took 4 men...carefully moving it.
The chickens...my first raised from babies set......they kept going up the hill looking for it.
yeah creatures of habit....I agree its stressful but
Ah no way will I lockthem down..... they will learn eventually
now if I can get tha tree stump "ramp" made prob be easier...
appreciate all
thanks all

 

[Ridgerunner]

I’ve tried 2x4’s flat and on end and tree limbs. Since they are creatures of habit I mixed things up. My tree limbs were thicker on one end than the other so I reversed them another time to see what would happen. My conclusion is that people worry about this sort of stuff a whole lot more than chickens do. Whether the bark is on or off that limb won’t matter either. From my viewpoint they all work. I know some people like to only give their chickens the absolute “best” but the chickens don’t really care. People can come up with all kinds of rationalizations why one way is better than the other but the chickens don’t care.

How old are your chickens? Do you have any handicapped like Silkies that can’t fly? Most of my brooder raised chicks start roosting at about 10 to 12 weeks if they are in a coop with no adults already using the roosts. I’ve had some start just after 5 weeks and some take a lot longer but 10 to 12 weeks is fairly normal. If they are in a coop with adults they might be five months old before they make it all the way to the main roosts.

My full sized fowl adults (thing Australorp or Sussex) have no problem flying/jumping up to a 5 feet high roost. I’ve seen a broody hen take her two week old chicks to the roost but they used the top of my nests as an intermediate landing. Regardless they had no trouble flying two to three feet at a time at two weeks. Unless you have a breed that can’t fly and needs a ramp or steps, or unless your coop is so tight and crowded they can’t spread their wings and fly, I find height of the roosts isn’t a huge problem. I suggest they be as close to the ground as they reasonably can. The higher they are more clear room they need to be able to fly up and down. They need to be higher than anything you don’t want them to sleep on, which usually means the nests. I position my roost height by determining the top of the bedding in the coop, then position the nests, then make the roosts a little higher than that. In a large coop 12” higher is normally enough.

I like my roosts high enough off the coop floor so the adults cannot peck the feet of the ones roosting on it. When I’m integrating chicks they often go to the roosts to avoid the big bullies. If the roosts are not high enough then the roosts are not a safe haven.

 

[Beekissed]

I agree...it's not a science. Bigger birds tend to like a bigger roosting area and I tend to have mostly big birds, so I provide a nice, fat tree limb for those gals. I also have a 2x4 stuck in there as a spare roost. Most of mine prefer the limbs and always have but they will roost on a 2x4 just as well when they have no other choice. Just keep it comfy and higher than the nest boxes and you should be fine.

 

[ladyearth]

My Barr rockers are 10 month old.... the limb not real big 2 inches one end 1 and 1/2 inches other end
Roost platform is adjustable from 16 to 24 inches
thanks yall

 

[chickengeorgeto]

I was doing the 2 by 4 FLAT... flat... then I THought I read to use a round tree limb......

Which is it yall??? Poor Hubby.......... He even changed the roost height from 16 to 24.....
.... which is the scientific thing.??

Last two nites had to hand carry each one from small tractor coop roost and push them thru the chute of NEW COOP and close door.....
I know.. creatures of habit...

At the expense of making the owner mad lots of the things you read are unnecessary. Both are better and both are poorer choices for roosting poles depending on other factors like

....type and size of chicken.

....type of housing

....your local weather

....how much rain will blow or drip in during the night etc.


So i am going to blow all the conventional wisdom out of the water and tell you to use the wide side of a slightly curved or radiused 2X4 so water will run off and/or a combination of both limbs and boards. You can be sure that your birds will chose the one that they like the best. It is better to debark tree limbs so that mites don't have a ready made hiding spot between the tree limb and the bark.