suspended roost

[Turkeyrun]

Hi,

Does anyone have a suspended roost? If so how did you suspend it? Does it sway much? Does swaying bother the chickens?

Thanks

 

[ranchhand]

Hi Turkeyrun,

I have tried suspended roosts- after all, parakeets use them all the time! Didn't work so well for the chickens though, kind of sad and funny at the same time. But they kept falling off the far side in big squawking piles of feathers, so I now use fixed 2" x 4"s. Not the most graceful of birds!

 

[WriterofWords]

Why am I hearing Calliope music?? The daring young roo on the flying trapeze.......

 

[Chief]

With my game roosters, they tend to get a little bored and lazy in a pen for too long. So one thing that I often do to entertain them is a suspended perch/ roost. I just take a 3 foot piece of a broom handle, put a small screw-eye in each end and use 1/4 inch nylon rope to hang it from the top of the pen. At first they wobble around a bit but soon after they get their balance. It actually helps keep them fit because they have to use their legs & wings to balance. After a while they get such good balance that you can hardly see them working at it. I don't know how well other breeds would do with it but they might like it.

 

[ranchhand]

Quote:

It's all okay- until another comes sailing in and upsets the balance..........

 

[2txmedics]

Yes, I have them, and I lock them in place with thin rope...what I do where they criss cross, I tie them all together in different angles to cover my bases, so there is very little swing in them or non....

This is what they look like:

And I have a total of about 20 in my flock that sit on them at night, they love them as its leveled with the opening across the front of the coop so they can be up there and see all the yard.

Dont know if you can see the string that is holding them in place.
Opening where the roosts are behind this:

I do them like this this way I can take them down and move them if I want to, or take them down to clean....

 

[Osage Rooster]

I used to have a ladder style roost with 5 rungs on it that sat on the floor and leaned against the back wall. I replaced it with two longer 2X4s suspended by solid 2x4's from the ceiling. One is lower than the other so that the older, fatter birds can fly up easier. Accomplished two things: 1. made it easier to clean the bedding out. 2. created a little safety barrier from possums or coons that may get in the coop (if the door was left open). I like it better. One roost is about 4.5 feet off the ground and the other is over 6'. The higher one gets filled first.

 

[CityChook]

I don't know if a suspended roost is a great idea - seems a bit unstable, but I do know that several of my spoiled chickens like to swing. My daughter likes to hold them on her chest/stomach while laying on the tire swing and she can actually sway them to sleep. Who knew.