Roost size, shape, style?

[LearninMyFlock]

Your likely to find 100 that say round and 100 that say square.

Well, there is a variety of opinions but I guess not all voted???

 

[Fatherdowling]

I wanted to make my roosting bars as natural as I can, so I cut large branches off a tree that fell in my side lot. My chick's are around 5 weeks old, and I find them all sleeping on the roost bars early in the morning.

 

[Acre4Me]

Hi! I’m brand new to chicken keeping myself, my ladies are a little over 6 weeks. From what I’ve researched it may depend on where you live. I’m in the Rochester, NY area and winters can be pretty harsh...the 2X4s help keep their feet from frost bite type issues because when they roost their feet can be entirely covered.

Our winters can be harsh too- we've gone through some very cold weather and polar vortexes, lots of wind too. They do not need the flat side of a 2x4 to cover their feet. They naturally sit on their feet, even when they are curled around a round roost.

Here are mine with their feet covered on the narrow side of a 2x4. The ones standing on the roost, you can see that their feet only drop down part way on the 2x4, and those sitting are fully covering their feet. My large BJG (that suffered from the breast blister) is roosting comfortably - he is on the far right, 2nd roost down. A chicken wears a down coat, full of fluffy feathers and their natural body temp is actually quite warm.

 

[debid]

I use branches and agree that there is no problem making their feet vanish under feathers on a rounded roost. I put up an assortment of sizes, the adults seem to prefer around 2" diameter over 4" which makes me very doubtful about the claims they need a 3.5" wide flat board to keep warm. They don't encircle like a parrot does but they do grab on a bit.

 

[aart]

Well, there is a variety of opinions but I guess not all voted???

Oh, give it time...this thread will go on and on.

 

[debid]

Oh, give it time...this thread will go on and on.

I didn't read all of the answers. Have the "your chickens will be injured and die if you don't do it my way" people showed up yet?

 

[poisondartfrog]

Once when I absorbed a flock from a deceased friend into my own and needed to quickly increase roosting area in the large coop I had then, I put two saw horses in there as a temporary solution. They were so popular I left them for the couple of years before I needed them to be saw horses again.

 

[woodmort]

First of all, where does one get 2X4's, most are 2X3. That being said, mine have always been happy with ash saplings 2 inches or wider in diameter, that I have cut down in our woods then space far enough apart so they don't poop on each other's heads. I cut a U-shaped piece of 2=by, which I screw into the wall on opposite sides of the coop, lay the branch in the U and use a screw in one end to keep it in place. Then when I have to clean under them all I have to do is remove the screw to get the roost out of my way.

BTY, when they are in the wild do they seek flat branches to roost on?

 

[LearninMyFlock]

Oh, give it time...this thread will go on and on.

I'm enjoying learning!!! Love all the opinions and voices of experience!!! It's like a free class. I thought they were maybe either or and agreed with being both but the voting was definitely not that way. LOL. I'm concluding that either can work, just make sure it's a good size and up high. I keep learning.

 

[aart]

I thought they were maybe either or and agreed with being both but the voting was definitely not that way.

Well, the poll is silly, IMO....if it had the option to vote for both I would have voted....for both.