Roost bar?

[3KillerBs]

NOPE. Personal experience here, and validated by the breeder of the Black Jersey giants we have raised. You are forgetting their keel bones. On a wide roost, a big bird has a keel bone that will rest on the roost, causing friction, causing breast blister, or possibly worse. Our 11 month old BJG has to be attended to by us several times, and took several months to fully heal. Never an issue since we turned the roosts to the narrow side.

I wonder if round perches are best for these larger birds since they'd offer wide support for their feet to spread the weight but drop away from the keels to prevent that pressure?

 

[Acre4Me]

I wonder if round perches are best for these larger birds since they'd offer wide support for their feet to spread the weight but drop away from the keels to prevent that pressure?

Could be a good option! We made a ladder roost on a hinge, so we used 2x4s. Perhaps in the future, if we get some good branches we can replace some 2x4s with branches. But, having the keel bone rest on the flat surface of a 2x4 for a large/heavy bird wasn’t a good thing.