Importance of Roosts Inside Chicken Coops

When you pursue on building your own coops for your pet chickens, it is important that you also install roosts. These are usually placed in higher platforms to provide your birds a place to sleep at night. Why higher areas? Your flocks feel more secured sleeping on higher places than on lower areas near the floor of the coop. They prefer to pack together on roosts while asleep.

Behavior like this shown by chickens is normal, for they all feel secured by being on high areas especially when asleep. Birds have this idea of being safe from predators if they stay above them, higher than any of them, thinking these aggressors will have a hard time getting on them. Usually in the wild, birds rest on tree branches, in this case, in a closed environment such as coops, roosts will be ideal.

Birds see safety as a very important thing to consider; that is why staying on a high area will satisfy their need of security most of the time. Constructing roosts must be separate from nesting boxes. If you place boxes higher than it should be, then your hens will consider it a resting place too. You should know that these birds usually defecate at night; you wouldn’t want to mess up the nesting boxes with bird droppings, would you? If you can, install roosts that are of the same level.

Setting up multi-leveled roosts is not a good idea. This will only cause your flock to fight for the top-most roost there is. If some do sleeps on lower levels, then expect messy looking hens at mornings due to droppings from birds just above them. For maximized space for each hen, a cross-designed roost is perfect. You can also have roosts that are about 9-10 inches apart, to avoid very crowded flocks.

It will depend on your preference what material to use as roosts. Planks are good; just remember to round the edges for good grip especially during sleep. Wood is also a good choice; smooth the surface to prevent splinters. One important thing you must remember is if your roosts are strong enough to hold the whole flock’s weight.

To maintain cleanliness, place an easy cleanable surface and a litter carton under each nesting box. These will help you to control the mess of bird droppings everyday. And remember not to install roosts right above nesting boxes.