- Thread starter
- #11
Missys Chicken Ranch
Songster
Thank you. I swapped out the ramps for a smaller one that I put on a block and moved the top of it down just a bit. I put one of my chickens on it and she went up it with no issue. I will show the other girls and then they can do whatever they want lol. Last night when I put them in the coop I stood in there and watched them because I could tell they were trying to figure it out. One of them attempted to fly up there but she didn't make it. Now, that doesn't mean she can't at all, she might on another attept. I was ready to go to bed so I just put them all up there lol. I am sure they will get it figured out. Thanks for the help!With that nice open coop where they can spread their wings I have trouble understanding why your barred rocks don't just fly up there if they want to go up there. Mine fly higher than that. And I'm confident mine could go up that ladder you show in your first post. But you say all of yours don't get up there on their own. You are looking at them, I am not, so I'll take your word for it.
Chickens don't automatically know how to use a ramp. They don't know to go to the base and walk up. Often they go on the ground under the high point and can't figure out how to get to the top. You see that a lot with broody hens trying to get their chicks up a ramp into an elevated coop. I don't like ramps and almost never use them. Instead I build steps for the baby chicks out of pavers. It is much more natural for them to climb up steps to get to the top. I could see steps built out of cinder blocks working for you. Or build steps out of wood. Say a rise of 9" with a 9" width. Steps would not have to be that strong, they has to support chickens, not you.
Or try what the others are saying with that ramp in your photo in post #7. Raise the bottom to make the slope flatter. You could have a couple of steps up to the raised base. I'd screw the top in place so it is stable. You don't want it to fall.
I still think part of your problem is that some of them don't want to. They are not going to climb a ladder, ramp, or steps, or fly up there if they don't want to. So I'd still suggest setting them up there after dark to develop the desire in them for them to sleep up there.