perches

[chickenfam6]

Dose your perch need to be rounded for the chickens feet to rap around or are they ok with a board?

 

[maricybele]

I have 8 adult chickens that use a rounded closet dowell and plastic bracet that needs the wood screwed in and 2 x 2s (with the smooth edges) my other coop with 8 adults as well you can set a 2x2 into a metal bracket and they stay very well, the rounded ones sometimes fall out.The thing with a board is it will probably collect a lot poop.

While we are on the subject I have a few questions about optimum height on the perches.

My 2 month olds are banging around the coop trying to get to high places to perch like window frames and coop frames. I feel they are going to get hurt as a matter of fact one past out or stayed floppy for a few minutes on the floor trying to get up high and falling. I have one perch 6 feet long and 7 inches off the ground and I put one at 20 inches off the ground so I which is still a reach so I am going to lower it.

Should I block the window frames they are trying to perch on or just let them learn the window frames are about 4 feet? What is the optimum perch height? It pains me so to see bang themselves up and bang up their feathers. But at this age, they just started with the pecking order thing and they make a lot of ruckus fighting over the best spots to sleep. Any tips/advice?

 

[Life is Good!]

Dose your perch need to be rounded for the chickens feet to rap around or are they ok with a board?

Our perches are a 2x3" set so the 3" is flat. It's plenty big for our Black Java's to perch upon. A 2x2 was too small. Yes, they like to wrap their toes around their perch and set their talons into the wood to help hold on.

 

[LoneOak]

Most chickens will try and roost on the highest thing they can get to even if it is a dangerous location, they ain't got much sense sometimes. It can be a lot of work to keep them from roosting on the highest perch and pooping on everything below it. I have just recently had some birds grow big enough that they tried to roost on top of a half wall, then they went on up on top of the water bucket that's mounted to the top of the wall. I used chicken wire to block all these areas all the way up to the ceiling. Went in the coop one night late and one of the birds had climbed the wire trying to get to the top and stuck her foot through the wire and fell backwards with her foot hung in the wire. If I hadn't gone out at midnight to check on them no telling what shape she would have been in the next morning.

I thing she did the same thing a couple days later and fell off the wire 8ft down to the ground. When I went out on my late night check she was in the floor kind of walking around with a dazed look and it took her about 30 minutes to finally jump up on the lowest roost pole in the coop. I have some older birds in another coop that try to roost on top of the doors that are supposed to remain open and I haven't figured out how to stop them from this yet.

I saw in a large egg laying operation where they had a tight little wire stretched over there system of waters and they called it an anti roosting wire, it kept the birds from roosting on the plumbing for their waterers. I tried this on top of my doors and it hasn't worked yet. I thought it had but they were back on top a couple days later, I've got more thinking and figuring and work to do!

 

[EsKezzy]

We're almost to picking out perches too.

I have 4 young chickens and we're trying to figure out is it best to put one bar across or two. If we put two, is it better to stagger them or put them at the same level?

So, do most people think a flat board with rounded edges is best? Do you clean it off often?
We're considering a flat board vs a dowel right now. If we do the rounded bean, how big around is best?

 

[maricybele]

This is a photo of the bracket I livke best and the 2x2 inside it holds 9 adults (thats all I have in the hen house) I would put 2 levels. The girls don't use their baby roost anymore to sleep ( 6 inches from the floor) they like the higher one. I just reinstalled it for the photos. The girls are now able to jump up with ease now after a few days of practice.