[karlooben]

hello , i now have my 6'4 shed back { heehehee  kicked out the barb-b-qs}  which is going to be used for the hens to roost in { the other smaller shed wil be for nest boxes} am going to join the 2 together as an L shape .

but i was wandering how high up of the floor  an how far away from the side  do the perches  go could anyone tell me please ... weather permitting this weekend we will be starting on the main fencing an also my roofing should be in saturday  

[richyrich7]

A lot depends on the breed of the hens, but mines at about 3' high BUT they do have a basic ladder to run up and down on. Makes it easy for me to have a quick look over them at night and I have a droppings board about 8" under the perch to catch the poo.

[karlooben]

hi richyrich 7 i will be getting ex batterty hens and i dont know what breed they are ,lol am still learning that side of things . :?:

[WoodyK]

Hello Karlooben

I'm in no position to advise as I've only had my ex batts for a week and a half but from the advice i had from the very friendly folk on here and my very limited experience is you don't want to make them too high. I made mine at 9 inches and they seem to be doing fine. Once they are a bit fitter i'll probably raise them up a bit.

Hope this helps but happy to be corrected by the many people on here with far more experience than myself.

Enjoy your chickens

Woody

[richyrich7]

hi richyrich 7 i will be getting ex batterty hens and i dont know what breed they are ,lol am still learning that side of things . :?:

They will be a hybrid of some sort, a perch height of 9" would be plenty for them as they will never have perched in their life. You will probably have to teach them to use a perch, let them settle in for a week or so would be my advice, then after they have settled in the evening gently put them onto the perch, it will take a while.  

[GrannieAnnie]

Some of our ex batts learned to perch very easily and Brian makes ladder type perches for me, so the first one is about 9inches off the ground, then the next one about 6 inches higher etc etc, until they have 4 or 5 perches at different heights.

they can then choose where they want to go.  The new metal nest boxes we bought have perches on the front, and the first row are about 2 ft from the ground, and the 2nd row about 18 inches higher than that, and they fly up there no probs, but that's the younger chickens, we haven't got any ex batts at the moment.

[karlooben]

my birds will now have  2 sheds , hopfully one for the nest boxes an then the 6'4 shed for the perches an sleeping .

i have placed them together as an L shape so all i got to do is take out about 4 panels so they to enter ethier  shed as they please .

and today we have decided to call my the run and house ckickeningham palace as its going to be like a palace for them considering where they have come from...lmao    everyone at work thinks i have lost the plot but i am having fun and i know my birds will.

thankyou everyone for any advice every little helps as they say

[nettynoodles1]

my new ex batts perch ok on the low perches and the old 1 goes up high now they soon learn.

glad your having fun chickenham palce sounds great

[Bassingham19]

I have some 14 week old hens which I have had a while. They don't seem interested in perching one bit? I have added a sloping perch to try and encourage them but still no joy. They just huddle together in a corner at night. Any suggestions?

[richyrich7]

Hi Bassingham welcome to the forums,    be patient with the roosting thing, you can always pick them up and put them on the perch just after dusk. However with your hens being young I'd leave them for now as I have read that hens which perch from a young age can deform there breastbone, not sure if thats true. Might be worth asking one of our more experienced keepers.

Why not post a topic in the Hen house forum asking this question ?

[karlooben]

sounds like it mite be better to just leave mine to do as they want  i am sure they will  perch when they are read.

we got the main posts an fisrt top wire done today but the wether is getting pants and it kept stopping us .. am hoping most of it can be done next wekend