Question Number One

[HayleyB]

OH has been instructed in the making of roosting perches which he will be doing on Wednesday. However the fence rails he was intending to use are 1.75" x 5" is that too wide or can we get away with it. I know the edges need to be rounded and I believe they need to be laid so that the widest edge is horizontal am I right?

BTW - got some brill nesting boxes today from Homeb**e. They are plastic recycling boxes/bins for use indoors to sort your rubbish into. They have a detachable lid and a flap to the front that you raise to put the rubbish in. They have three full sides and the front is a rounded lip about 4" high. It means I may be able to rig up a support for the front flap during the day and close it for nights to stop them sleeping in them. They were £20 for three.

[Snadger]

OH has been instructed in the making of roosting perches which he will be doing on Wednesday. However the fence rails he was intending to use are 1.75" x 5" is that too wide or can we get away with it. I know the edges need to be rounded and I believe they need to be laid so that the widest edge is horizontal am I right?

BTW - got some brill nesting boxes today from Homeb**e. They are plastic recycling boxes/bins for use indoors to sort your rubbish into. They have a detachable lid and a flap to the front that you raise to put the rubbish in. They have three full sides and the front is a rounded lip about 4" high. It means I may be able to rig up a support for the front flap during the day and close it for nights to stop them sleeping in them. They were £20 for three.

My roosting bar I inherited with the chook house is rough sawn 2" X 2". I have just made another roosting bar higher up because of the extra chooks I've got now and this is made from an old banister rail! Rounded on the top and flat on the bottom.........just what the doctor ordered!
They seem to love it as I peeked in the shed after dark and all the older chooks have claimed it leaving the lower one for the new chooks (lower in the pecking order I suppose)

Twenty squid for three nesting boxes seems a lot to me! Mine have bricks laid along the front and lumps of chipboard (old cupboard doors) for partitions. Just made three extra today with anything to hand including breeze blocks, bricks and scrap timber!.........cost.?????........nowt!

[Bephlam]

Mine are 2 by 2 as well - which they don't look at!!!! but are more than happy to roost on the back of the garden chairs!!! Typical!!

[MaureenHall]

You need the thin side at the top so they can grip on with their feet

[HayleyB]

Sorry Snadger I'm not as practical as you, I wanted the plastic boxes as I thought they'd be less of a hiding place for mites.

Maureen - so the 1.75" is the horizontal and the 5" can be the vertical then - sorry I'm being thick here

[MaureenHall]

Yes, that's right. Don't think the chooks will have a foot span of 5"

[lynda66]

Yes, that's right. Don't think the chooks will have a foot span of 5"

unless they eat too many worms and grow into giants ........ then you'll have to turn them round

[HayleyB]

Maybe when I get Brahmas next year though