should the roosts bars be round?

[Chick Charm]

In some coop set ups you can put them just a foot or so up of the floor and they can use that. It really depends on your coop and your chickens.

 

[Kernel Cluck]

I have heard a 2x2 works best. This is what I use. It is big enough to give them something to grip but they can get thier toes around the edge for good support.

 

[Angel16]

okay, so if i went with a 2x3 would that be okay? and if i had the first roosts 15" off the ground and the second 24" is that okay or should that be lower or higher????and should i have the feeder and waterer off the ground?

 

[Ridgerunner]

For some reason the topic of what to use for roosts stirs up a lot of people on this forum. Some people get emotional over what they think is best. I’ve never quite understood that. Like a lot of things concerning chickens, one way is not necessarily right and everything else wrong. It’s usually just which way we choose to go.

As you can see by the responses, the reality is that different people use different things that work well. I do suggest it be wood. Plastic or metal can be pretty slick and wood works better than metal or plastic in the cold as far as heat transfer. And what you use needs to be strong enough to support their weight.

If you use sawed lumber, I suggest you sand it a bit. Part of that is to round off the sharp corners but my main reason is to get rid of splinters. Again, that is just personal preference. The chickens generally don't care about most of this type of stuff. People do.

 

[Angel16]

ridgerrunner- i also wondered how high should the roosts be of the ground?

 

[supermom1185]

I agree that the chickens don't seem to care about the time we put into making their space comfortable! I build a nice roost using 2x2s and natural fat tree limbs to give them a choice but they still choose to roost on the top of the dog kennel along the metal bar! They will not have a choice once I frame in the roof

but I still don't see how the metal bar that is only about an inch across could be comfortable!

 

[4 the Birds]

My roosting bars are up around 3' high and I have a ramp up to each bar. The nesting boxes are at 18"
I use landscape timbers for my bars. Very sturdy and they have rounded edges (they are about 2" x 3").
Hope this helps! Below is a not-so-good picture.... I should get a picture of them all lined up along this bar in the evening!
Oddly enough they all have their favorite spot along this bar!

 

[Ridgerunner]

ridgerrunner- i also wondered how high should the roosts be of the ground?

Read post #10 in this thread.

 

[Angel16]

okay, so do i put the first roost 3 feet off the ground? or do i have it 2 feet off the ground?? i don't know how high hens can jump and when i put the roosts up i can't change them.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I think now you may be talking about a ladder roost, which is a different topic than I thought we were talking about. If you are talking about a ladder roost, put your first one 12" off the ground and then separate each and every one after that 12" vertical and 12" horizontal. Even Silkies that can't fly can use those.

If you are talking about how high to put the roost you want them to roost on make it 12" higher than anything you don't want them to roost on. I have no idea how your coop is laid out. I can't tell you how high to put it off the ground because I don't know how high your nests are or how they are built. I don't know what else might be in your coop that would enter in to this calculation.

I don’t know what chickens you will have in your flock. My full-sized dual purpose chickens have no problems jumping/flying up to or down from my 5 foot high roosts. My coop is big enough and laid out in a way that they can spread their wings and fly up and down without banging into things. Most of my chickens use the top of my nest box as a launching pad to get to the roosts. The top of my nests box is about 2 feet high and 3 feet horizontal away from the main roosts. Some fly straight up and most don’t use the top of the nest box on the way down, they occasionally some do.