Roost Location

[Fox and the Hen]

Hello folks,

We have the coop setup and our 10 hens seem to be settling in quite well. However, none of them are using the roosts yet, which I understand is normal since they are only about 8 weeks old right now. Having said that, when I was in the coop this evening closing up some windows, one of our Plymouth rocks flew up onto one roost looked around a bit then hopped over to the second roost, which was great to see, my concern is when she jumped down she hit our hanging feeder on the way down. Should I be concerned that the feeder is too close to the roost (although I don't have a ton of other space to put it), or is this just something that they will figure out on their own after a few times? Just don't want them to hurt themselves. I think their is plenty of other room for them to get down, it's just where she jumped while I was in there. I have attached a picture to show the setup, it's not great, but the best I have at the moment (the feeder is hanging right behind the waterer)

. As always, any and all comments are appreciated.

Thanks

Fox and the Hen

 

[barneveldrerman]

If you can I would put the roost farther back otherwise it would be ok. The should learn after a while to fly around it.

If you have any more questions let me know!

 

[aart]

How big is your coop(feet by feet)?
They can probably figure out how to get up and down without hitting the feeder......
.....but it's hard to see where the roosts are in relation to the walls and feeder, need a pic from higher up.

A waterer like this saves a lot of space.... and spills.
2.5 gall kitty litter jug, wide mouth for easy topping off and installation of heater.
Here it's shown with insulation for winter.....a total of 6 horizontal nipples, would work fine for 10 birds.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Yes, size of the coop and how much clear space you have could help. Chickens need enough room to spread their wings and fly down, even if it’s not very high. That’s how they keep from hurting their legs when they jump down. Your roost doesn’t look very high so that’s in your favor, the higher the roost the more clear room they need, but I can’t get a feel for how much room you actually have.

Will they learn to not hit it when they fly down? I don’t know. Some of that depends on whether they are excited when they hop down as well as how much room they have. As always the more room the better so you can cater to the unexpected.