Ramp

[medders]

Is It helpful building a ramp going up to the roosting poles?

 

[Celticdragonfly]

I would also like to know

 

[Mvan42]

I assume it depends on your chickens. Are their wings clipped then yes.. if their wings are not clipped they can get on a roost themselves.

 

[so lucky]

My chicken coop has a big stump on end that chickens seem to like. They jump on it, then on to the roost. Once they are grown they don't need it, but some are lazy.

 

[WhoDatChick]

I have a ramp.. they all use it.. if you have fat birds like Buff Orpingtons it is helpful... my Sunny decided to try to jump down the other day and she crash landed on her face .. poor thing! And I don’t know if she could fly up there either.... it is also helpful for littles to get up.. my Silkie decided she was done nesting with her babies and went to roost.. they were able to follow her up.. oh, and not to mention she wouldn’t be able to get up there without it.. it’s good to have..

 

[jthornton]

If the height of the roost is more than the floor width times 1.5 chickens that can fly will fly up but have problems coming back down because they need room to land. If your roost is 4' from the floor they need at least 6' of floor and more is better. Chickens can fly up almost vertically but on the way down it's at about a 45° or shallower angle. The higher up the more space they need to slow down and stop before hitting a wall. Otherwise some other way is needed to get down like ramps, steps etc.

JT

 

[aart]

Is It helpful building a ramp going up to the roosting poles?

Can depend on the size of your coop and the height of the roosts...and your birds.
I put ramps in for big fat clumsy brahmas, plus my coop is only 6' wide....the other birds like to use them too.

 

[noregerts]

I have a ramp but nobody uses it. I've never seen anybody use it anyhow and I've got a live chicken cam in there so...

 

[jthornton]

Also notice the clever anti roosting device @aart has over the water bucket to keep it from getting pooped on.

JT

 

[Shadrach]

It's the getting down more than the getting up that's the problem. Ime chickens tend to try to fly down if the perches are above hop down height. That's fine on a clear runway but if the coop is small and cluttered they have a horrible habit of banging into things on the way down.
A picture of your coop and the proposed ladder position would be helpful.