Perches/Roosts for Brooders?

[CluckyCharms]

Can anyone tell me how to make a perch/roost for a brooder for chicks so they get used to having a roost and know where they should sleep when they transition to the coop? What do you use?

Please make it something easy to create (I'm not that handy)

Thank you

 

[faykokoWV]

Can anyone tell me how to make a perch/roost for a brooder for chicks so they get used to having a roost and know where they should sleep when they transition to the coop? What do you use?

Please make it something easy to create (I'm not that handy)

Thank you

I don't know how big your brooder is, but you could do something as simple as a 1x4 cut to length and put it on 2 bricks. They don't need anything fancy. they'll roost on anything you put in the brooder. A wider base like a 1x4 is better than something skinny. It lets them get up there easy and stay on better (no balance at that age lol)

 

[CluckyCharms]

To be honest I didn't know about 1x4s ...I thought 2x4 was the smallest LOL I'll have to check for those next time we go to home depot! Thank you very much!!

(starting to wish I would have taken woodshop instead of home ec in school)

 

[kdwag]

I had two small blocks made from cut 2 x 4s for the ends and cut a small piece of wood, maybe an inch or so thick and 8 or 10 inches long, if not smaller, didn't measure it and it was maybe an inch or so off the ground. I nailed the long piece to the ends and they loved it. In fact, they were roosting off and on at a couple of weeks old. As they grew, I made the longer piece thicker. Prior to the nailing, I did what the others suggested and just layed the roost portion on top of small bricks at the ends but as they got bigger, they kept knocking it off so that's when I nailed it down. For the first couple of weeks, the roost bar was really wide because they weren't balancing really well but I would find them laying on the roost bar very comfortably. I sort of experimented with different widths as they grew until I found a width that worked for them.

 

[Fred's Hens]

1x2 or 1x3 are easy to work with and cheap to buy or pick out of a scrap barrel.

Screw them to chunks of 2x4 stood on sides for a small rise, and done. I love to provide these mini, training wheels type roosts in the brooder.

 

[CluckyCharms]

Thank you very much for the ideas everyone!!

 

[Kaugomu]

1x2 or 1x3 are easy to work with and cheap to buy or pick out of a scrap barrel.

Screw them to chunks of 2x4 stood on sides for a small rise, and done. I love to provide these mini, training wheels type roosts in the brooder.

I do the same, but I also make a teired system for as they get older. For the first week I have a 1x2 just sitting on the floor of the brooder - most of them pay it no mind, but then it's not foreign when I give it hight. Stage two (after week one for the first two to three weeks) is a 1x2 screwed into a chuck of 2x4 with the hight being the 2 not the four. Stage three (after two tot hree weeks till they move outside) is the same deal but with a cube of 4x4.

 

[EMAE]

I'm tempted to just do 3 coats of deck paint. I'll see if I can get a deal.

 

[Tre3hugger]

You can literally use a stick from outside. Sterilize in 30 parts water 1 part bleach if you want. I leave mine as is no sterilization. Set it up on bricks, blocks of wood, or screw right into the sides of your brooder.

 

[CIuck]

Can anyone tell me how to make a perch/roost for a brooder for chicks so they get used to having a roost and know where they should sleep when they transition to the coop? What do you use?

Please make it something easy to create (I'm not that handy)

Thank you

I justed poked a hole in the box and gave them a stick!