Chicken Roost Ideas – With 13 Examples

As you may know, chickens don’t like sleeping on the floor. They need somewhere safe to relax and roost at night.

A convenient place they can roost stress-free without worrying about predators and pests.

Providing chicken roosts to your flock is affordable and straightforward because you can build some great roosts for your chooks- even if you have a sizable flock.

Chicken Roost Ideas for Your Backyard Coop

Chickens are prey birds that are constantly wary of marauding predators. Your backyard coop, therefore, must have safe and comfortable roosts for your flock.

The chicken roost perches should be above the ground. They should be sturdy so your chooks can rest and roost without stress.

Chicken roosting perches come in various materials, styles, and sizes. You can select roosts for your backyard coop depending on your preferences, design, and the breed of chickens you raise.

Below are excellent chicken roost ideas for your backyard coop to help you pick and design roosts for your birds.

Wooden Ladder

A wooden ladder roost is probably the best roosting perch for chicken raisers with large flocks.

The wooden ladder roost has two sides with wooden struts in between to support the two sides.

You can build a wooden ladder roost perch for the chooks by nailing wooden struts or rungs between two long pieces of wood.

It is much similar to making a simple ladder. Install the struts at different heights to ensure the chickens on the upper struts don’t soil the birds on the lower struts with droppings.

Secure the wooden ladder firmly to the coop’s wall to prevent the chickens from dislodging it when they flap their wings at night, especially after sensing danger. You can also repurpose an old wooden ladder to build a sturdy one for your birds.

However, angle the ladder you are repurposing to ensure the chooks on the lower struts don’t spend the night dodging droppings from the chickens on the upper struts.

Wooden Branches

Repurposing those old fallen wooden branches in your yard can be an affordable and easy way to make a good chicken roost.

You won’t need fancy tools or equipment to make a chicken roost from wooden branches. You only need to pick branches that can fit perfectly into the coop. Ensure the wooden branches are strong enough to keep your chickens safe while roosting up high.

Nail the branches firmly and securely to the wall. One of the advantages of making chicken roosts with wooden branches is that you can make several roosts with multiple perches. Wooden branches can also fit into different roosting areas, whether small or big, depending on the flock size.

Old Chairs

You may have a couple of old chairs that aren’t suitable for your house anymore. You can use those old and outdated chairs to build chicken roosts for your flock. Making chicken roosts from old chairs is easy without using special carpentry skills.

First, remove the chairs’ bottom parts while keeping the chairs’ sides and upper parts intact. Install some wooden pieces to join the sides of the chairs to make roosts. Old chairs will make excellent perches, especially if you have a reasonably small flock that doesn’t require large perches.

Furthermore, making roosts with old chairs can be an affordable way of building chicken roosts without doing plenty of work.

Old Benches

You can repurpose the old benches in your garage that aren’t useful anymore to make some excellent chicken roosts for the chooks.

Remove the standing frames on the benches such that you will have a couple of wood frames from the benches. Nail the flames to the coop, ensuring you don’t install them too high. Otherwise, some of your chickens won’t access the roosts.

Space the pieces to ensure the chooks don’t injure themselves when jumping up and down the roosts. Old benches can make suitable roosts for those with medium-sized to large flocks. Because benches have long and somewhat wide wooden frames, they can make excellent roosts for large-sized chickens.

They can also accommodate more chickens than the roosts from wooden ladders and old chairs. Furthermore, old benches can make comfortable perches for your flock.

Roosting Tree

A roosting tree makes a beautiful natural chicken perch. It’s also one of the most effective and simplest chicken roost ideas. Your chickens will appreciate the fun accommodation they will get when roosting on a roosting tree.

A good roosting tree will add a natural feel to the coop because it resembles a tree, and your chickens can perch on the branches like wild chickens roost in trees. It’s easy to make a great roosting tree for the chooks.

Select a small tree that can fit into the coop and cut it down, ensuring it has smaller boughs protruding horizontally, making the boughs appear like small natural branches.

Alternatively, you can build a roosting tree by utilizing artificial construction. Pick a thick piece of wood and nail some thinner and smaller pieces on the thick piece.

These pieces should be horizontal to make your roosting tree look like it has branches. Your chickens will climb on the thick frame and roost on the “branches” at night.

Although an artificial roosting tree doesn’t look natural, it does, however, do the job perfectly enough. An artificial roosting tree can be a great chicken roosting idea for chicken owners keen on symmetry.

Garden Trellis

Garden trellis make awesome chicken roosts, mainly if you aren’t innovative when deciding on the best chicken roosts for your chooks.

Purchasing a garden trellis from a local garden store or using the old garden trellis after harvesting your climbing plants can help you build a perfect roost for the birds.

The essential advantage of using a garden trellis as a chicken roost is that you won’t have to make anything since a good garden trellis already has roosts for the birds.

You only need to select a garden trellis that can fit in the chicken cage and then fix it close to the wall to create varying heights for your chickens to perch on.

Wooden Pallets

Wooden pallets can make simple and fun perches for chickens, especially for breeds like Cochins that love cozy and safe perches. You can repurpose those old wooden pallets to build easily installable and comfortable chicken roosts.

You can also hang the wooden pallets from the cage’s roof. Or, you can place the pallets on struts or attach them to the chicken cage’s wall.

The gaps in the wooden pallets allow chicken poop to fall seamlessly to the floor without soiling the birds.

Wood Slats

Wood slats make suitable roosts for chickens that can’t climb too high. They are also easy to install. You can repurpose old wood slats to make roosts for your chickens, although you have to nail them to the wall to keep the bird safe when perching up high.

Wooden Log

A wooden log can create some excellent roost for chickens. Roll a wooden log into the coop to give your chocks a place to roost. You can also have several logs in the cage if you have a reasonable number of chooks to ensure each has a roosting spot.

Triangular Wooden Frame

A sturdy triangular frame can be a perfect roosting haven for chickens. A wooden triangular frame can also accommodate many chickens, especially if you don’t have a spacious enclosure that can’t use other large-sized chicken roosting options, like roosting trees.

Chicken Swing

If you have a few birds, you don’t need several large perches to accommodate them. A couple of chicken swings can help accommodate the few birds in your flock. Chickens love the swinging feeling they get when roosting on swings.

Wooden Stairs

Wooden stairs are excellent roosting options for chickens because they provide roosting perches with different heights. Furthermore, wooden stairs can accommodate several birds, allowing every bird to roost on the stair level it feels comfortable. However, you need carpentry skills to make chicken roosts from wooden stairs.

Bamboo Poles

Bamboo poles are also cost-effective and easy to install. You can install them horizontally in the cage to provide the chickens with enough roosts.

The number of bamboo poles you have to use as chicken roosts will depend on the number of chooks in your flock.

However, bamboo poles can be slippery, and some chickens can fall from the roosts if you use fresh bamboo poles.

Conclusion

Chickens like roosting, although they aren’t the only fowl that love roosting. Your chooks will feel uncomfortable and insecure when sleeping on the coop’s floor.

They will have to fly up high and find an elevated position to spend the night. Consequently, it would help if you had enough chicken roosts to keep the birds happy and secure when sleeping.