please show off your roosting bar dividers!

[cityeggs]

If you have put in roosting bar dividers, could you share photos? I've searched and found one or two photos, but not many.
I have one hen who seems to be getting her feathers plucked on the roost at night. Of course, there's plenty of room on the roost for the 3 of them to be far apart, but she wants to be right next to everyone else; even when she sleeps on the dropping board instead, she still chooses to be right under everyone else - still within reach (and occasionally gets pooped on). That, along with the bedtime squabbles where everyone wants to be next to the wall has me thinking about putting up dividers. A while back, I put up 1/2 a box as a temporary fix for a draught in one wall until I could get to repair, and a few times one or more of them squeezed between the wall and the cardboard, essentially making their own divider, so it seems like they'd appreciate them.

A few questions for those of you who have roost dividers:
How far apart did you put them? And why?
Does it seem like your chickens are better off with them? (i.e. are they worth it?)
Has anyone figured out a way for them to span the roost instead of just being on one side? Or make them easily slide-able to change the distance between them?

The ones I remember seeing are attached to the wall closest to the roosting bar and are mainly on one side of the bar. I can't attach them to the wall in front of the roost because my wall is a door, so I was thinking of trying to mount something onto the 2x4 roost (but ideally this contraption would also slide so I can adjust the space between the dividers based on their usage). And ideally, mine would extend to both sides, so that my low-ranking hen doesn't get her feathers pulled no matter which direction she and the culprit are facing. But I've been having trouble imagining exactly how all this would work without being super complicated, so I'd love to know if someone else has a design already!

 

[Tonyroo]

I have thought about putting dividers on my roost bars 2 years ago. Only because I had a Wyandotte that was being a bossy B***h to my Swedish flower hens. She got killed by a dog. So I didn't set the divider on the roost.

Do you have pictures of your roost bar. Maybe I can help and others can chime in on a solution.

 

[cityeggs]

Do you have pictures of your roost bar. Maybe I can help and others can chime in on a solution.

Here are the photos I have, though it's hard to get a good picture of the set-up. The roost a little less than 5' long - I can't remember by how much. They all want to sleep against the wall near the nest boxes (the pop door is across from the other end). I only have 3 hens now. Currently, the roost is ~8-10" above the floor, and 3-4" above the dropping board.

I'm going to change things around bc I'm due to get a few more chicks next month. My thought so far is to take the roost off the brackets (which have caused multiple injuries) and make legs for it so it can sit directly on the dropping board (a few inches above the sand) and put the brooder under the dropping board, which will raise it to about 2' above the floor, but I will have to make a ladder, since the landing space is pretty small for coming from 2' up.

Once the chicks are out of the brooder, I may play with the height of the dropping board (and thus also roost), or take the dropping board out entirely and just make the floor sand/PDZ and put another roost parallel to the current one, but above the entrance to the nesting boxes (adding a little poop roof to protect the nests). I haven't thought all that through yet - more at the brainstorming phase, which is where the thinking about roost dividers also fits But somehow I have to put in at least a little more roost space for the new birds.

The dropping board is just sitting on pieces of wood - I wanted to test out different heights before setting it to slide in & out, and inertia has set in, though I knew I had to fix the situation before chicks got lost under there. Now that it's been pouring rain for a week and they're less interested in going outside, though, I realized that they've figured out that they can just fit under it themselves and wander around under there! So, that will have to change no matter what. And whatever I do, I know I don't want to make it nest-like under there if I do raise the height of the drop board!

 

[Krugerrand]

I had a similar situation as you have. I had two 1.5 yr old hens and added 2 pullets. The hens were not too friendly towards the others and would not let them up on the roost bar. I used what I had on hand ... some cheap plastic fencing and cardboard. I kept it up for several weeks and took it down as it got colder. I guessed correctly that they would tolerate each other for heat.

I clamped on the cardboard so that they couldn't see each other on the roost. The fencing is just stapled to the sides. (Be careful with that! you don't want loose staples where chickens can eat them. Nails/screws may be a better approach.)

If I had a large enough piece of cardboard on hand at the time, I probably would have just used that. Easy to put up. Easy to replace, if needed. Easy to take down when they don't need it anymore.

The older hens at first took a divide and conquer approach. They each went on one side and blocked the full roost. But, I kept moving one to the other side as it got dark and they got the hang of it after a couple of days.

Looking at the size of your coop, you may want to consider a full floor of PDZ like I have. You're losing so much space to them not being able to be under the roost bar/poop board. (I use pine shavings in the nest boxes.)

 

[Tonyroo]

Here are the photos I have, though it's hard to get a good picture of the set-up. The roost a little less than 5' long - I can't remember by how much. They all want to sleep against the wall near the nest boxes (the pop door is across from the other end). I only have 3 hens now. Currently, the roost is ~8-10" above the floor, and 3-4" above the dropping board.

I'm going to change things around bc I'm due to get a few more chicks next month. My thought so far is to take the roost off the brackets (which have caused multiple injuries) and make legs for it so it can sit directly on the dropping board (a few inches above the sand) and put the brooder under the dropping board, which will raise it to about 2' above the floor, but I will have to make a ladder, since the landing space is pretty small for coming from 2' up.

Once the chicks are out of the brooder, I may play with the height of the dropping board (and thus also roost), or take the dropping board out entirely and just make the floor sand/PDZ and put another roost parallel to the current one, but above the entrance to the nesting boxes (adding a little poop roof to protect the nests). I haven't thought all that through yet - more at the brainstorming phase, which is where the thinking about roost dividers also fits But somehow I have to put in at least a little more roost space for the new birds.

The dropping board is just sitting on pieces of wood - I wanted to test out different heights before setting it to slide in & out, and inertia has set in, though I knew I had to fix the situation before chicks got lost under there. Now that it's been pouring rain for a week and they're less interested in going outside, though, I realized that they've figured out that they can just fit under it themselves and wander around under there! So, that will have to change no matter what. And whatever I do, I know I don't want to make it nest-like under there if I do raise the height of the drop board!

What type of chickens are you keeping? And how many birds roost on that bar?

Normal height is 1 foot and higher from the coop floor. In your case it's measured from your drop board.

You might not need a divider but add a second roost bar on the other side of the coop.

 

[AnnPann]

ive never come across this idea but am intrigued - def following for advice! my 7 hens are a complete mess at bedtime. despite 7+ feet of roosting bar space. currently only 3 of them are permitted on the bar, and the rest cram into 2 unused nesting boxes that i've given up trying to keep them out of (but are a pain to clean, so i want them OUT).

 

[Tonyroo]

This was my original plan for a temporary roost divider. It's a quick project. Know your roost measurements before starting, mainly the thickness of placement. Gapping the boards 1 foot per wall will prevent 2 birds from occupying the space.

*Cardboard 12×12" square.
A thicker cardboard will last longer.

*Staple gun
After securing use your hand to test the resistance. Add more staples if needed.

*Box cutter
*Ruler

 

[Tonyroo]

It's a great way to reuse cardboard doing diy projects.

 

[Miami Leghorn]

Here are the photos I have, though it's hard to get a good picture of the set-up. The roost a little less than 5' long - I can't remember by how much. They all want to sleep against the wall near the nest boxes (the pop door is across from the other end). I only have 3 hens now. Currently, the roost is ~8-10" above the floor, and 3-4" above the dropping board.

I'm going to change things around bc I'm due to get a few more chicks next month. My thought so far is to take the roost off the brackets (which have caused multiple injuries) and make legs for it so it can sit directly on the dropping board (a few inches above the sand) and put the brooder under the dropping board, which will raise it to about 2' above the floor, but I will have to make a ladder, since the landing space is pretty small for coming from 2' up.

Once the chicks are out of the brooder, I may play with the height of the dropping board (and thus also roost), or take the dropping board out entirely and just make the floor sand/PDZ and put another roost parallel to the current one, but above the entrance to the nesting boxes (adding a little poop roof to protect the nests). I haven't thought all that through yet - more at the brainstorming phase, which is where the thinking about roost dividers also fits But somehow I have to put in at least a little more roost space for the new birds.

The dropping board is just sitting on pieces of wood - I wanted to test out different heights before setting it to slide in & out, and inertia has set in, though I knew I had to fix the situation before chicks got lost under there. Now that it's been pouring rain for a week and they're less interested in going outside, though, I realized that they've figured out that they can just fit under it themselves and wander around under there! So, that will have to change no matter what. And whatever I do, I know I don't want to make it nest-like under there if I do raise the height of the drop board!

Love the illustrations and I like the inside of your coop. But I do have a question. Even though there's a divider there; what will stop the hen from jumping down, walking over to, and getting back up on other side of the roost so she can start creating drama again?

 

[WallyG74]

Survival of the fittest. If they fight, I know nothing about it.