Roosting: how to best serve your chickens

[okto]

3 heavy ladies.

2x4 approx 12" off ground, i also rounded the top of the 2x4 in a gentle curve.

the roof of my coop is only about another 24", so the height of my roost wasn't that important, just the shape.
i also wanted to avoid any foot health related problems so i purposely kept the roost low.

 

[Buster]

Here's the roost I made from the advice in this thread. I cut a 4 inch wood fence pole to 11 ft (more than 10" per bird), and since i don't have a good way to secure it at the moment, I wire tied it to a sawhorse that I had been using as a ladder to the previous roost. Then I wedged it in until it wouldn't tip either way. They have plenty of room and can sit and cover their feet (I've had a problem w/ frostbite on the feet lately) and it's 2 1/2 feet high. The first pic shows spots on my lens- I'll have to clean it. What does everyone think?

These girls were all sitting down comfortably over their feet until I opened the door to the coop and everyone made a mad dash to the door assuming I had treats.

 

[speckledhen]

Here's one example I've mentioned before about the size of the bird dictating the size and placement of the roosts. My Blue Orpington rooster and his two girls use 2x4 roosts on the wide side. Suede's foot from the back toe to the end of the longest toe is probably five inches or slightly more. Can you imagine that huge foot trying to balance a 12 lb rooster on a surface 2" wide or less?

 

[PurpleChicken]

Oh wait. I thought this said Roasting, how to best serve your chickens.
Wasn't there a Twilight Zone episode like this?
"THEY'RE SERVING PEOPLE"!!!

 

[TheMartianChick]

Quote:
The "To Serve Man" episode of the Twilight Zone is one of my favorites!

 

[PurpleChicken]

Quote:
The "To Serve Man" episode of the Twilight Zone is one of my favorites!

Yes exactly!!!


OK sorry to hijack the roost thread.



Our roosts are only 1 foot off the ground because our coop area in the barn is low.
They do fine. I noticed that chickens get used to the height. Some RIR's I just
added to my flock were used to roosting up high. They fly up to the top of my run
and sit on the fence. My others never did it until they saw the RIRs do it.
As long as they have a roost they are happy.

 

[Wildsky]

Oh PC - you're on a roll...................

(bread roll)

 

[schmism]

http://www.snjschmidt.com/pics/coupe/chicken 002 (Large).jpg

the lower one is 4'... the upper one is near on 6' and they nest every night on the upper one....

they spend time on the lower one durring the day when its really warm up at the top.

lower one is a 2x4 that i had left over and tossed it up just because... the uppers are 2x2 with a rounded top edge

 

[skatcatla]

Hmm, reading this I start to wonder if height has nothing to do with it, other than that they just naturally want to get to the highest point, whatever that may be.

For the past few months my girls have been roosting on the round 2.5 inch bar that came with my Chick-n-Hutch. I hope in picking a roost for my new coop I didn't make a mistake! I am just using a round piece of wood; its one of those ones you use in a closet.

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

Because I may have an infestation of leg mites I've taken out all my roosts and cleaned out my coop really well.

I'm also going to change the position and add an extra roost now that I have more girls. I use to have my 2x4 roost with the small side up, but I think I'm going to change that and have the wide side up.

One question: I know the girls like to roost as high as possible, but is there any reason not to just have the roost a foot above the floor? As they get older, I wonder if they'd rather just have an easier time getting up at night and down in the morning?

What do you think? Should I keep them high or just make them "low"?