In pondering what to do about my continuing dilemma of my 4 new hens not wanting to roost in the coop with the other hens at night, I came up with the idea of adding new roosts so they could feel like they had a place of their own. I’d been meaning to add new ones anyway, so this was the perfect excuse to finally force me to finally do it.
I walked over across the street to some wooded land and dragged out some fairly straight, sturdy branches. One branch had a great “fork” in it that I thought I could use nicely too.
I used some under-utilized corner spaces to add roosts and I loved the way this forked branch works to give two different roosting spots on the same branch.
Using my miter saw, I cut the branches at angles, always allowing extra length until I got the angle just right, then making the final length cuts. I pre-drilled the screw holes, and then used nice long screws to anchor them to the wall. You’d be surprised how much a bunch of chickens perching on a branch can weigh, so I knew the branches had to be strong and firmly anchored to the walls.
The new branch roosts in the chicken coop.
Kiki & Grace are still really mad at me for hooking the chicken feeder up to a pulley so I can raise it during the day and they can't free-range on chicken feed all day.
And so even though I still have to go and gather the new hens out of the old small coop every night, at least once they are in the new coop they are making good use of the roosts. Even some of the other hens are joining them now.
The hens enjoying the new roosts.
Somehow Kiki & Grace now manage to squash themselves through the small old coop's chicken door where they can eat the chick feed!
And every night I still have to gather up all of the adolescents that were forced outside by the 4 new hens and bring them back into their coop, once they are there they are delighted to enjoy some food and warmth without worrying about those 4 new ladies picking on them.
The adolescents in the old coop.
Kiki and Grace just crack me up!
Hugs,
Susan and Bentley