chooks not perching

[President Bartlet]

We have four bantams and they don't seem to have got the hang of perching- well not all the time at least. Sometimes they'll perch fine, other times some will be perched and others on the floor and then sometimes they're all cuddled up on the floor. I'm pretty sure we don't have red mite.

This evening they were on the floor in a bundle so I tried to lift them onto the perch, one finally went on but the others wouldn't stay on so I gave up in the end. The perch is rounded and about 2cm wide and similar deep, and plenty long enough for four.

Can anyone tell me if they may need a bigger perch? Is there any major problem if they don't perch? I guess the thing I'm most concerned about is them getting very soiled feathers coz they poo all night and they're all soft feather breeds.What should I do?.

Any advice please?

[oldjerry]

Our perches are always wider than that, though we have mostly full size chickens.All the bantams we've had have always been a bit of a law unto themselves,in my experience they are far hardier than their full size cousins and I would be inclined to let them do their own thing! When we had a few hundred free range birds,we spent masses of time,energy and the folding stuff fox proofing paddocks,exterminating foxes on the common etc.yet Lucia's favourite bantam disappeared, cue much wailing and grinding of teeth,she reappeared about 3 weeks later with 5 chicks in tow!

[Thomzo]

Lucia's favourite bantam disappeared, cue much wailing and grinding of teeth,she reappeared about 3 weeks later with 5 chicks in tow!

Ahhhh

My black pekin bantams never got the hang of perching and stubbornly slept on the floor every night. It might be a breed thing as my neighbours' white sussex always tried to get as high as possible. Some breeds can't jump so they might not like perching too high in case they fall off and have to climb up again, just a thought.

You could try lifting as many as possible onto the perch for a few nights running. I did this with my ex-bats. Even though it was worse than herding cats, after two nights they got the hang of it and perched happily ever after.

Zoe