UV paint

[kcan2]

G'day everyone, just wondering if anyone has painted their roosting bars with UV paint to help their chickens see them better?

That is a neat idea, and certainly less hassle than other additional lighting options. Your nifty idea did spark mine…first I thought of reflective tape, but tape would likely be a hazard if it started to lift off and got stuck to a bird so, what about some of those screw on mini reflectors, I see Tractor Supply has some. Maybe mounted to the vertical outer edges of the roosts, where they don’t interfere with their roosting feet.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

I have tall roosts in my coop to try and encourage them to develop wing strength to help them become more athletic to help with avoiding predation. I'm also breeding lighter breeds like Leghorn and gamefowl for this same reason. On occasions a bird could be hunted off or knock off by another chicken as they're going to roost. I've seen often enough them not quite confident to hop straight back up even if they have the space.

Oh! Now I remember your thread about this! I am trying to get more self-sufficient chickens as well. I have tried adding outdoor lights and even physically putting them in trees lol. Lately I have gotten some very heavy birds that roost so high in my barn I have to use a stick if I want to move them. I am surprised by how high a full grown Orpington can get given anything to jump from. They are more likely to go higher if I leave the light on after dark. Here is another thread you might find helpful and there is some high-roost discussion in it as well (don’t know why I didn’t point it out to you before since it seems like you will fit right in with us mongrel forest chicken people):

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/landrace-adaptive-breeding-discussion.1624350/

 

[Cammo77]

That is a neat idea, and certainly less hassle than other additional lighting options. Your nifty idea did spark mine…first I thought of reflective tape, but tape would likely be a hazard if it started to lift off and got stuck to a bird so, what about some of those screw on mini reflectors, I see Tractor Supply has some. Maybe mounted to the vertical outer edges of the roosts, where they don’t interfere with their roosting feet.

This is more to make use of the chickens ability to see UV light. I'm just not sure if it's still as visible in lower light conditions. Reflectors need light to work.

 

[Cammo77]

Oh! Now I remember your thread about this! I am trying to get more self-sufficient chickens as well. I have tried adding outdoor lights and even physically putting them in trees lol. Lately I have gotten some very heavy birds that roost so high in my barn I have to use a stick if I want to move them. I am surprised by how high a full grown Orpington can get given anything to jump from. They are more likely to go higher if I leave the light on after dark. Here is another thread you might find helpful and there is some high-roost discussion in it as well (don’t know why I didn’t point it out to you before since it seems like you will fit right in with us mongrel forest chicken people):

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/landrace-adaptive-breeding-discussion.1624350/

"Mongrel forest chicken people" definitely sounds like my tribe

That's interesting and very refreshing to read about the Orpingtons being able to get up that high. I think a barn is a great spot for them to roost.

My goals now with my chooks is to get them to use their natural behaviours to their advantage. Night vision would be one I'd like to strengthen as one of our problem predators are pythons.