Why does everyone always want the same thing?

[Folly's place]

I have a ladder roost in one section of my coop, next to some roosts about three feet up. On the other side the roosts are about four feet high, and then the rafters. In another section, there are only rafters, eight feet high, and some young bantams are up there! Mary

 

[GinaNew York]

I have bantams and standard birds, and some of my EEs, Chanteclers, and French Marans are up there in the rafters, along with some of the bantams. They fly down onto the shavings and seem to do fine. Mary

we have five brahmas, two barred rocks, two Easter eggers, two Columbian cross, two golden lace wyandottes - all are big thudders and don't have a graceful bone in their body - actually that's not fair, Lucy the dark brahma flies beautifully and the Easter Egger Valerie is getting up there - so maybe they're learning, but still growing tom boys!

 

[Ridgerunner]

Are your birds big?

Big is not just breed specific. Yes, some breeds are just bigger than others, but some may be bred, fed, and raised to be really big, such as show birds. As a certified judge once said on this forum, big often gets rewarded, even if they are bigger than they are supposed to be. And some people really like to feed a lot of protein, which results in larger birds. Most hatchery birds are not specifically raised to meet the SOP weight requirements, usually other criteria goes into the selection of which birds make the breeding pens. Those of us that don't feed the higher levels of protein throughout their growth cycle don't grow chickens as big as they could be.

In my opinion the size of the actual chicken, not necessarily the size the breed is supposed to reach, can have a lot to do with how much risk the bird has in injuring joints when it hops down from a perch or roost. How much clear room it has to spread its wings and fly down instead of just hopping down has a lot to do with it too. There are probably other things involved in what the risk might be too.

 

[GinaNew York]

I think right now I'm most concerned with "inexperience" and getting used to this set up which is going great - though two injured feet with the toenail broken off quick and the begging bumblefoot - both are doing really well and healing nicely, and they're all laying in the nest boxes, nothing on the floor yet. ours are all big to me - from Agway who gets them from a local supplier - no pedigree here, just a good group and all seem to be girls except one question - a white brahma that has no spurs and doesn't crow, but is so much bigger and we have 13, but only on the best day got 12 eggs. We'd have to isolate her/him to see if they're laying and of course that one hates being caught -