Hens Roosting On Roof
Many of our domestic breeds are too heavy to fly up as high as a tree limb but still like to perch off the ground.
Hens roosting on roof. Allow for a minimum of 8 inches of roosting bar per hen. A good design of roost for chickens to sleep is a staircase concept. When raising chickens for eggs your roosts have to be higher than your chicken nesting boxes or your hens will be lured to roost in or on the nesting boxes trying to find the greatest perch readily available. The staircase concept of the roosting bar would avoid your chickens from getting bumblefoot.
Many studies were done before that law was introduced looking at best husbandry practice for roosting. Those studies provide a wealth of reliable information. Of course more is better but you will find that especially in the winter. You can make a perch from an old ladder or anything else strong enough to hold chickens and rough enough for them to grip but without being so splintery it injures their feet.
In europe it was made illegal to keep chickens without perches in 1999 whether in backyard or commercial coops 1. When raising chickens for eggs your roosts need to be higher than your chicken nesting boxes or your hens will be tempted to roost in or on the nesting boxes looking for the highest perch available. At the point when the shafts or branches are high chicken would love to get those. Wild chickens roost in trees.
Length allow for at least 8 inches of roosting bar per hen. The high shafts are very space sparing. They will feel more sheltered particularly when the shafts are hung in the center. A roosting post is typically put up high dangling from the roof.