COTH Poultry Mavens, pls weigh in!
Background:
On a FB page about barns a poster asked about the thin metal rods running horizontally at intervals in her old wood barn. Consensus was they had been installed to prevent the sagging walls from collapsing.
Someone guessed they’d been put there for chickens to roost.
Quickly shot down as chickens were said to need a 2x4 flat surface to comfortably roost.
Here’s where I made the mistake of saying in my 15yrs of chickens, they had, to a hen, preferred to roost on the 1/2" lath that frames partitions in the coop.
I’d read about them needing a round or flat surface & had peeled the bark off some 3" branches & set them in the coop. One at an angle, floor to about 2’ off the ground because my first flock was 6wk chicks & I’d also read the youngsters would sometimes be unable to reach a high roost. The other straight across & 2’ from the floor. They do use these, but only if there’s no room on the preferred Skinny
Every flock, beginning with these & since has chosen to roost on the lath 🤷
I have been lambasted, told I’m endangering the health of my birds, leaving them vulnerable to leg/foot issues & the danger of frostbite when they can’t cover their toes by crouching flat to cover them.
I think animals know what works for them & choose accordingly. I’ve never had a crippled hen & the only case of frostbite was to one rooster’s large comb.
AITC(hicken)A?
Pic to illustrate, round roosts behind the lath, Xtra Crispy demonstrating the Roost Of Choice: