Perching problems

[rocketman]

Me again sorry.

On that note, perhaps calling it a coop is actually a little misleading. I have emailed the website the link to this forum, will be interesting to see if I get a response.

Looks like the website is based in New Zealand, which is where I am from. We don't have any preditors in the area I live, so keeping chickens in a pest-proof coop is not necessary (unless you have problems with them wandering off).

 

[Willow's Meadow]

why hasn't anyone done this.......

 

[rocketman]

He he, thanks for the welcome. I can see I'm going to "waste" a lot of time on here. Some of the existing topics have been very helpful for someone very new to keeping chickens.

P.S. I got a quick response from the website:

"Hi "concerned user",

Thank you for the link to the forum, the comments on our chicken house design were generally quite constructive.

We intend to update our pages in short order to clarify that this is indeed a house, not a true coop. We can assure you is it a practical design for free-range chickens, but is definitely NOT suitable for keeping chickens locked up in. You will note that there is no lockable door on our design.

We have also been working on a true "coop" with attached run design, which we expect will be on the web by the end of May. We will bear in mind your comments about ventilation.

Kind regards,

The team at www.bettaliving.org"

 

[elmo]

I'd be very leery about taking advice from a website that suggests something round and slick like PVC pipe as a chicken roost. I wonder whether the people running it have much experience with chickens or have even done much research?

 

[rocketman]

that suggests something round and slick like PVC pipe as a chicken roost. I wonder whether the people running it have much experience with chickens

Maybe, but my neighbour told me the same thing.

She comes across as a bit dotty sometimes, but she is president of the local chicken club!!??

She said something about not using square perches because chickens feet are not square. She suggested a piece of pipe.

I didn't really buy it at the time either, and wood works fine for me. Lengths of 25X25mm (metric) seem to have worked fine for me in the past.​

 

[elmo]

Quote:
Maybe, but my neighbour told me the same thing.

She comes across as a bit dotty sometimes, but she is president of the local chicken club!!??

She said something about not using square perches because chickens feet are not square. She suggested a piece of pipe.

I didn't really buy it at the time either, and wood works fine for me. Lengths of 25X25mm (metric) seem to have worked fine for me in the past.

No, chicken feet are not square but they're not round, either. They're flat, like the feet of other ground dwelling birds. And as for pipe...would that be metal pipe? I hope you don't get any freezing weather in your part of the world, because where I live, metal pipe plus freezing weather would equal frostbitten feet.

 

[patandchickens]

Yeah, well. You CAN do all sorts of things. That doesn't make them smart. Here in Canada it is surprisingly common for people to shut off all coop ventilation during the winter. "Everybody does it, it must be right, yes?" Well, no, because everybody ALSO ends up whinging about frostbite all winter.

Yes, a chicken will sit on PVC if given no other good choice. No, they do not prefer that. Of course they do not prefer a totally square sharp-cornered 2x2 EITHER, but those are not the only options

Chickens are not inherently perching birds like parrots or sparrows, they are basically ground-dwelling bird. They are quite happy on a flat surface, or a perch that is gently rounded (e.g. a 4-6" diameter tree branch) or square with rounded-off edges.

Just sayin',

Pat