Roosting bars requirements

[Onyxflock]

I

That isn't the common recomendation. The chicken chick book says either is fine, but most on this site put the long side up.

I've been seeing that on these posts. That's different than I was told in the past. Was told thry naturally curl and grip whatever they choose to roost on and it wasn't good for them to be flat footed on a roost. Oh well, choose your expert I guess. Thanks

 

[AllenK RGV]

What sized fowl are you planning to keep? Big birds need lower roosts as well. My tiny sumatra need them 2M high. The silkies don't even roost they are ground pounders.

 

[black_cat]

I

I've been seeing that on these posts. That's different than I was told in the past. Was told thry naturally curl and grip whatever they choose to roost on and it wasn't good for them to be flat footed on a roost. Oh well, choose your expert I guess. Thanks

I've heard that they prefer to roost flat footed so that they can settle down and cover their feet in their floofy feathers @aart is the true coop construction expert, though.

 

[AllenK RGV]

@aart and I have differing needs related to our environments. She has winter and we do not, could OP please edit in some info for location?

Ok now I feel like a jerk I see Luxemburg, yep totally a Michigan equivalent climate.

 

[aart]

Thanks for all your replies. The plan is then to find something close to a 2x3 (I'm in europe so the measures are different), round the corners heavily with a sander and put them with the wide side up. Easy enough. I don't think I will wrap them with anything because I don't have any inner tubes of bike tires and i don't want to invent anything.

Sounds fine.
Wrapping is not necessary nor good as it can make things harder to scrape off and provide shelter for pests.

You can use a branches, or a 2x4 flat side up or flat side vertical, or any other type of wood that will not allow splinters in the feet or have sharp edges.
You want something that you can clean the poop off of. They don't poop on the roosts all the time but they do get pooped on.

Ditto Dat!

 

[Ted Brown]

I meant their feet aren't big enough to grip around a 3" board

With respect, I posted a link to a BYC post above, it references the results of a formal study and that study recommends 2"-2 1/2" of width. The references are:

"http://www.yourchickens.co.uk/care-and-advice/the-perfect-perch-1-2842822

It is a layman's summary of this study (which I cannot open or I would have only referenced it):

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21406354 "

Also note that the OP states 3" of width deeply rounded which will result in something approaching 2 1/2" using the three inch flat side up.

I have 30 birds and use 2" by 3" full cut boards deeply rounded on the top corners. They are 1 year old, ~8 weeks old and ~6 weeks old. All of them use the roosts and I have seen the smallest being pushed around by larger birds - they have no difficulty hanging onto that width.

 

[RW1984]

Instead of using a 2x4, I found my birds do extremely well with 2x2s
It’s rounded decently as it is and it works great.
It’ll save you time in regards to cutting/sanding/routing etc and money because they are generally cheaper than a 2x4

 

[aart]

Roost size and manure management(to scoop or not) will never reach a finite consensus,
because most things work just fine for the birds and the rest is just personal preference.

 

[speedy2020]

I made a template that work for 2x2, 2x4, 4x2, and 4x4 many years ago because can't decide at the time. You can find it here on page3. https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/english-ixworth-rooster.1384307/page-3

 

[WaspSlayer]

I read somewhere the poles could be wrapped by bike inner tubes split open.

Has someone else heard about this?

Also, might be a good idea that roost poles are removable for real cleaning and maybe spraying for pest control.

I'm currently experimenting with swim noodles. My chickens are still young, so I've split small diameter swim noodles, and wrapped them around their "branches." They are easy to clean, bugs don't seem to be interested in them, and it gives the chicks somewhere soft to rest their breast.