Roosting bar height made a huge difference in my flock's behavior

I raised my roosting bars from 2 feet to 4 feet off the ground about 3 months ago and suddenly my hens stopped fighting over spots at night. They spread out across both bars instead of all piling on one. Has anyone else seen their birds act calmer just from changing perch height?

3 comments

3 Comments

tyler6141mo ago

My flock started picking on each other more after I raised the bars, so I dropped them back down.

evannelson1mo ago

Wow, that's really interesting. So did you notice if the picking stop completely after you dropped them back down, or is it just less than before? I'm curious because I've heard people say higher bars give them more room to get away from each other, but your experience sounds like the opposite happened. What kind of birds are we talking about here, anyway? Different species act totally different in my experience. It's wild how one small change can flip the whole dynamic in a flock like that.

richard_shah1mo ago

Three weeks is not a lot of time to be honest. I've seen flocks act weird after a change for a month or more before they settle. Your mileage may vary but I'd give it more time before calling it a fail. Also what kind of birds are we talking about here? That makes a big difference. Chickens are one thing, parrots are a whole different ballgame.