what is the proper hight for perches

[obe10]

we have speckled sussex, leghorn, & RIR. does anyone know how high/low the perches need to be?

 

[Centralflafred]

Mine are about 2' off the ground and the girls use them every night. I have N.H Reds and 3 bantams.

 

[NellaBean]

Mine are about 3.5 feet high? I also have a shelf along the wall that some of the chickens go on. It is about 5 feet tall. They seem to like the higher the better. I have a ladder type setup, with two lower roosts that they can either roost on or use to get to the higher levels. They only use it to go to the higher levels. They like to be up high!

I have leghorns, RIR, cochins, andalusians and a couple Giants. Even they like the 3.5 ft high roosts. They can't get to the shelf as it is too narrow for them.

 

[A.T. Hagan]

Higher than your nest boxes if you want them to use the perches and not the boxes to roost in at night. Two to three feet is good. Higher than that and the heavy breeds won't be able to reach them.

.....Alan.

 

[gritsar]

A.T. Hagan :

Higher than your nest boxes if you want them to use the perches and not the boxes to roost in at night. Two to three feet is good. Higher than that and the heavy breeds won't be able to reach them.

.....Alan.

The heavy breeds can also injure themselves jumping down from too high a height.​

 

[chickenshagg]

Mine are stair stepped with the highest one being higher than the bottom of the windows. I started out with them lower but some of the chickens would roost on the window ledge. That led to little jostling for positioning so I raised the top perch and now that is where most roost and not in the window anymore!

 

[newchicksnducks]

My nest boxes are two high, and the bottom one is a little over a foot off the ground. This put my droppings board at 3 foot and the first roost about 6 inches higher than that, with the second roost an additional foot higher and a foot further out towards the wall. All 15 are using this, with only 3-4 a night on the bottom roost (although all could fit on the top roost if they wanted, and the bottom roosters vary day to day)

 

[Ridgerunner]

As low as they can be and still be clearly higher than anything you do not want them to roost on. As Gritsar said, they can hurt themselves jumping down plus the higher the roost, the more room they need to fly down. If the roosts are too high, they can bang into nest boxes, feeders, walls, whatever on their way down.

Mine are about 4 feet high and are probably 1 foot higher than they have to be, but the bracing was handy. You can see the breeds I have in my signature. Some fly straight up to the roosts but most use the nesting boxes as a step to get up. All of them fly straight down in the morning. Maybe you can see what I am talking about in this photo.

 

[Mahonri]

I've noticed that for my lighter breeds, the love high roosts!

 

[LynneP]

I installed my roosts at 2.5 feet and the hens use them for grooming and gossip, but chose a platform over the nest box at 2 feet for sleeping. Mine are golden comets, RIR crosses (sexlinks)

The general rule is

The bigger the hens, the lower they roost...