Roosting: Weird, Stupid, or Normal

[Dfthenak]

“cuddle puddle” - love that.

I hope mine catch on soon. I’m thinking about putting a perch over their huddle corner to encourage them. That may be my November project.

Mine are 29 weeks and still sit on the coop floor together, not using the roosts. I put them on the roosts each night and they stay til morning, but won’t get there on their own. What else can I try?

 

[kurby22]

No, it's elevated on a couple of sawhorses at the former roost level. It's screwed on, so it's secure. We also screwed a plywood bottom to it, flipped it over, and filled it with sand so we can scoop it clean like a sandbox. It's missing slats so it's easy to clean.

That is a genius idea to clean it! Very creative! You should share pics of this, I may need to give this a try!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

No, it's elevated on a couple of sawhorses at the former roost level. It's screwed on, so it's secure. We also screwed a plywood bottom to it, flipped it over, and filled it with sand so we can scoop it clean like a sandbox. It's missing slats so it's easy to clean.

Oof, I'm not making this very clear, am I! It's flat, like ... Um ... like a raft. It takes both of us to clean it because I'm too short to reach all the way across it. I can only clean the half closest to me. TheMan, who is tall, cleans the far half. We use kitty litter scoopers. And toss the poop into empty fed bags. Then carry those out to the compost heap. The chickens like to crowd onto about one-fourth of the surface. You know how chickens are. Our 8x10 coop by rights should hold 20 birds according to normal standards but I've had about 25 in there comfortably. But the way they all, well, "cuddle puddle" in there, I could probably put 75 in there and they'd be fine. WHICH I WON'T!!! Because ventilation mostly. And poop.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

That is a genius idea to clean it! Very creative! You should share pics of this, I may need to give this a try!

I'd be embarrassed to share pics, it's .... er .... no.

 

[Aunt Angus]

I might try it with a half pallet. Lol!

 

[MTKitty]

No, it's elevated on a couple of sawhorses at the former roost level. It's screwed on, so it's secure. We also screwed a plywood bottom to it, flipped it over, and filled it with sand so we can scoop it clean like a sandbox. It's missing slats so it's easy to clean.

That is just a crazy cool idea! I like it a lot. I just don’t know if I have the space to erect it in my coop. Not to mention, I could just see me, in all my 5’2” glory, trying to wrestle a sand-filled pallet around the coop to fluff the deep bedding without tripping over or impaling a chicken. Yeah, lots of bruises and swearing, I think.

It does give me some new things to consider with an idea I’ve been toying with. I have an old tray my washer used to sit in. A couple of stair stringers and some 1x4’s; sand in the tray; I might-can do that.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

That is just a crazy cool idea! I like it a lot. I just don’t know if I have the space to erect it in my coop. Not to mention, I could just see me, in all my 5’2” glory, trying to wrestle a sand-filled pallet around the coop to fluff the deep bedding without tripping over or impaling a chicken. Yeah, lots of bruises and swearing, I think.

It does give me some new things to consider with an idea I’ve been toying with. I have an old tray my washer used to sit in. A couple of stair stringers and some 1x4’s; sand in the tray; I might-can do that.

We don't fluff the bedding or wrestle with the pallet. They roost on the slats and the poop falls through the slats into the sand below. Hm. Maybe I do need to post a pic, lol! Tomorrow.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

You can't move this thing once it's installed and filled, it weighs a ton!

 

[MTKitty]

You can't move this thing once it's installed and filled, it weighs a ton!

I figured something like that, based on your description. I may explore a half-pallet, like @Aunt Angus. I need something I can easily pull out or move around when it comes time to clean out the coop. Plus, the existing perches, hanging feeder, and water bucket already take up space so that a full-sized pallet would be tough to install and still be accessible to chickens.

My fiends seem to like launching themselves across the coop for flight checks in small areas.

 

[ChickenGirl300]

My broody has 5 10 week old chicks. They still pile into the nesting box together at night with mom.