Question about Roosts

[LilyD]

I was wondering what the roosting areas look like in peoples coops. I need to put up my adult roosting area but I haven't started it yet because I am unsure what it should look like. How high off the ground can it go? Should I put them at varying heights and angles? Any help would be great.

Thanks

 

[Cats Critters]

I have no idea on height but her is a picture of mine if it will give you ideas:

and my grandmother's coop's roosts:

 

[LilyD]

I like your idea of making it like a ladder. That way it's easy to remove when cleaning the coop. I have branches in there now and the fuzzies are about 3 weeks old but right now they can't really get on roosts that are more than a few inches off the ground. I thought while they are growing I can look around and find a good idea for roosts for when they get older. I also live in a cold climate so my roosts would need to be fairly wide so their little toes can stay warm.

 

[so lucky]

I'm just getting to that point with my own coop, but from what I have been reading, you need to leave some space between the roost and the wall, maybe a foot....and some space between the roosts, not put one below the other, so as to avoid the upper chickens pooping on the lower ones. The dominant chicken will choose the highest spot, One idea is to put all the roosts at the same height, to avoid squabbling over the highest one. Probably need to have about 9 to 10 inches of space per adult bird. I haven't seen this written anywhere; I'm just guessing on that. Also, they seem to like a flat surface with rounded edges, such as the wider side of a 2x4 with the sharp corners planed off. That's all I know. Ain't this fun?!

 

[LilyD]

It has been so far. Right now they have a 1 inch wooden dowel that goes from one side of the brooder to the other but it's only about 2 inches off the ground and it took all but a few quite a while to get used to that. So I think I have time to make roosts for them. We'll have to see what I can come up with.

 

[welasharon]

I too have read that they prefer a flat surface to roost on and that they don't like to perch and wrap their feet around the roosts. It also helps to protect their toes from freezing. Now, having said that my polish started roosting on the top of the screen door that is between the two sections of the pen. It is only a half inch wide or so. Then again they are polish and hens at that!

 

[lizch]

I have 1x2 boards, flat side down. There are two roosts the width of the coop. The lowest is about 18" above the poop board, and the second is about 6" higher and 12" behind the first. The poop board is 18" above the floor of the coop. They've all been hopping up since they were 7 weeks old.

I do worry that once they are full grown, the boards may be too narrow. But if so, I'll nail a bigger board on top.

 

[Passionate for poultry]

Mine would roost in the rafters of the barn! lol