not on perches-is this normal?

My houses are Forsham Cottage Arks 504 Lenhams you can look up their web site for more info.  I will say Forshams know about chicken keeping and the Lenham is cleverly optimised for the chicken's needs and yours for cleaning.  I bought my first one just over 10 years ago and it's still going strong with a bit of maintenance each year to replace split roof boards and retreating with preservative.  They are not the cheapest but they last well.  Where as cheap SE Asia and Chinese flatpack imports maybe well made from machined wood but the basic materials are cheap and flimsy.  10mm roof boards aren't uncommon whereas the Forsham houses are 20mm.  Durability is much much greater.

Basically the perches slope upwards which encourages the first birds to roost to occupy the highest perch.  They don't squabble but they do tend to roost next to the same hen so they do have their own places though it's not always strictly followed.  As the perches are supported on a baton, as you say at each end, it helps with Red Mite control and they are easy to just lift off to clean.

Attached is a photo of a 'natural' roost note they don't perch on single branches but prefer a mat of crossing branches they can huddle on.

My husband made a set of perches from plastic water piping, using elbows and corners etc, he flattened the plastic by heating it then roughed it up with sandpaper for good grip, as its free standing any poop can be easily washed off with the garden hose and no problems with red mite either, works brilliantly for us.

I can imagine that the right diameter plastic pipe would work well.  What was the diameter of the pipe he used?  I can image 42mm waste pipe would work OK but 12mm or 18mm water pipe wouldn't be wide enough.  Did he use solvent elbows?

HF