Roost question.

[Emily_loveschickens]

I was wondering if I should make my roosts removable and if I need a ladder for them to get up. I have no superheavy birds or any frizzles silkies or bantams, so I think they can easily fly up. It’s about 2 to 2 1/2 feet off the ground. I am also using 2x4s because it’s better for my climate as it gets pretty cold here and then they can sit on their feet. I have six chickens and I’m making the roost space about 7 feet in total. Thanks

 

[azygous]

Do you plan on butchering your chickens after they reach three or four years? Chickens are a lot like humans in the respect that as they age, they lose muscle strength and they do tend to get heavier.

While young chickens usually find no issues with flying to high perches, this is only true for standard breeds. Heavy breeds need lower perches. Also, as chickens put on weight, the dismount from a high perch can inflict foot injuries resulting in chronic bumblefoot infections. These are tedious and take a lot of time to treat. It's best to avoid conditions that contribute to this.

A ladder to get to the high perches is redundant. The chicken still needs to fly up. Chickens don't use a ladder rung by rung as a human would.

I'm sure you'll get more tales of experience here, but these are mine. Even a perch 30 inches off the floor can result in bumblefoot in chickens not even one year old.

 

[Emily_loveschickens]

I do not plan on butchering.

 

[Emily_loveschickens]

our oldest chickens are 1 year old. should i take some pictures for you of the coop?

 

[Emily_loveschickens]

I'll take some pictures

 

[Emily_loveschickens]

Is actually only about 27 inches of the ground

 

[Emily_loveschickens]

Here

 

[Emily_loveschickens]

Any ideas

 

[rosemarythyme]

They don't need a ramp to get up, they can just jump.

More concerned that it looks like you put roost bars over your nest boxes? That's going to lead to a lot of dirty nests and eggs.

 

[3KillerBs]

Here

If you have diagonal roosts then your birds don't have the full length of the roost to use because the corners are too close to the walls. They don't like to jam in on an angle with their tails scrunched up against the wall.

How much horizontal distance do your birds have between the roost and the wall to get up and down? They tend to fly at about a 45-degree angle and can crash into the wall dismounting if the distance is too short.