To Roost or not to roost!!!

[liddy13]

Is it important for chooks to roost at night on a ladder rung/perch?
I have a shelf above the girls laying boxes where they sleep at night. Is his addequate?

 

[canada-goose]

A roost would probably be better for them.

 

[elmo]

They might like a roost better, but then again, I've read about chickens who prefer not to roost (silikies, and some birds who never had the opportunity when they were younger, etc.).

Do you find that their nighttime poops foul their feet and feathers the way you have things set up now? I have a boot tray under my roost. I pull it out, dump out the contents into my compost bin, hose off the tray, and put it back clean under the roost every morning. No muss, no fuss.

 

[teach1rusl]

Yeah...I think the biggest downside to not having a roost is that the chickens would be standing/sitting in their own poop (cause they poop so much at night time). I wouldn't want that

for my girls. A roost allows the poop to fall below...maybe to a dropping board or something along those lines.