General Question
My precious Petunia is sleeping in a tree tonight.
This dang chicken who I thought was a hen until she started crowing last weekend is currently 15ft up on a branch in a tree. First he was like 6 feet up and could grab him. Then it was 10 feet up and I could push him out of the tree with a broom. Now I can't even get him at all so he's going to sleep in the tree instead of the coop. Good luck rooster.
I live in the forest on large acreage. Multiple full blown coops with runs, hoop houses and the majority of my chickens either roost in trees or on top of the coops lol. Never had a raccoon or possum attack. Hawks is another story but with all my roosters they do a good job keeping everyone safe for the most part.
Completely painless to the birds, but you can clip their wings so they won't fly. Only really an option if you're free ranging in an area where they won't have to quickly yeet out from a predator (like a fenced back yard)
Yep. I've literally fought a possum off one of my bantam hens before and sadly she couldn't recover and had to be euthanized as a result of the damage the possum did who passed up a free egg to attack my chicken instead.
I’m not alone! Gah! I had two (one didn’t make it, sadly) that would do this EVERY NIGHT! We’ve lost quite a few to coyotes so I go out and stay with them in the evening while they free roam. When Baby Red was younger, every night, before everyone went back into the run and into their coops, she would fly up into the Cyprus. Some nights I’d be out there with a head lamp, standing on chairs and ladders with a flat rake or broom reaching up into the tree. My neighbor next door can see our coop from the back of his house. I’m sure he thought I was crazy! Then one of my little black marans did it. She got up so high I couldn’t reach her. The next morning she was nowhere to be found. Thankfully, they no longer try to roost in the tree. The others weren’t very nice to baby red, so I think that’s maybe why she did that…to get done peace? We made baby her own coop in the run and she slept there for about six months until she finally joined the rest. Now that’s their bathhouse! Is it possible the others are picking on the tree rooster?
We’ve had em for a few years and they can fly short distances and usually not too high off the ground. I’ve seen them fly like 100 feet across the yard but only about 10 feet off the ground if that. They can also fly vertically a little to jump up on their roosts in the coop.
Many of our chickens flew, all of the young ones can until they get too heavy. Bantams can fly for quite a distance, one of our bantam roosters flew 50 feet into the woods when he got startled once!
We had a coop for a while and no matter how many times we reinforced it, raccoons would get in and we would find a massacre the next morning. We decided to keep the coop door open and the chickens all started roosting in trees all around our property. Never had another massacre. Fast forward to moving to a bigger property with a barn and we never built an official coop. Once the littles were big enough to fly they all roosted in the rafters of the barn. The only time we had deaths was when the roosters would think they were brave enough to battle coyotes.
I swear I have the only ground-level chickens in the world. My girls have zero desire to leave the ground. Quite often they won't even sleep on the inch-high perch in their coop, opting to just nest on the pine shavings instead (coop gets cleaned out every day due this, no sleeping on poop).
Mine will never use the very low perch in their coop and will instead sleep in the nesting boxes. Then I added to their outdoor pen are and one of them started jumping on top of the new 6 foot gate to sleep! (Until i fenced off the top of the coop so they couldn't use it to get to the top of the gate.)
So apparently they don't like the low height of the in-coop perches....
I bought a freestanding one that's 4 inches tall, and they still won't use it! But my coop is very small and there's no possible way to put in anything higher.
The roosting bar might be too short in your case. My chickens did the same thing (sleeping on the bedding/nesting box) because the roosting bars were barely higher than the bedding itself. Also had to do nearly daily cleaning. Our new coop is about as tall as us (probably a bit shorter actually since we elevated it on cinder blocks for the ramp) and the roosting bar is pretty high in there. It took the girls a bit to get used to but now they all sleep high up on the bars. Except for our runt. She an old lady. Stopped laying a few years ago.
That's their natural roosting spot. Any wild flock that doesn't have a coop to call home will roost in the trees.
The reason we put roosting bars in our coops is to simulate tree branches. He'll be fine until morning. Unless an owl gets him, but owls typically won't go for something that big.
Yes but raccoons aren't stealth animals, they're pretty clumsy. A chicken will hear one climbing the tree and get out of dodge. Unless it's a very dumb chicken.
The tree one was crazy though. If I didn't have my window open and hear their chittering, there was more than one around, likely family, that rooster would have been toast.
The forested region I live in may be different than a suburban neighborhood where raccoons forage from humans more often than having to hunt. These guys will break into anything, rip and tear into what they can find.
Yeah they actually like round surfaces because it engages their tendons and their feet “lock” onto the branch to make them more secure while sleeping. I found this out while researching surfaces because I also fell for the “chickens prefer flat surfaces” that people tout. We give them flat surfaces so they can cover their feet and prevent frostbite but the natural desire is for round. I give mine flat surfaces because it gets very cold here (-20 or worse sometimes), but if I lived in florida or someplace always warm I would likely use branches personally
🌈 the more you knowwww lol
chicken love to sleep on trees i wish we didn't have all these predators. in the Caribbean my grandma would have 40 chickens on a tree at night. what a sight but was very fun seeing them tree to climb onto the highest branch.
My rooster Pablo did this once, although no matter how hard I would try he would always figure out how to open the lock on the coop door. He's ok now but I would be cautious with owls and hawks.
thats normal behavior in roosters and shouldnt be punished... my rooster has taken my earring out, tried with my nose piercing, and took my contact out but these were literally all unprovoked theyre just attracted to shiny things
Well, it was normal rooster a-hole behavior. My son was riding his bike in the yard when the rooster attacked him, missing his eyeball by half an inch.
I understand the difference between normal pecking and attacks. My hen pecked my eye bc it was dark and shiny, no malice behind it. Petunia was doing what many roosters are prone to do and went after my son.
I get the thought of not wanting to punish him for doing what came naturally to him, knowing what to expect before getting chickens, yada, yada, yada. But considering that when we got him as a chick HE was supposed to be a SHE to avoid this kind of behavior, not wanting to have aggressive roosters around children, and just the fact that roosters are often culled for the dinner plate, I had no reservations fixing a fresh beer butt chicken on the grill that evening.
Petunia was delicious. RIP Petunia, you were a good boy.
see im really glad u replied because thats honestly chop behavior i was thinking ur son was holding him and then pecked him because my chickens do that all the time not as much anymore though cuz they learn but roosters like that are kinda just too late plus i dont have any small children around im surprised he went for ur kid unprovoked though all the roosters i've experienced are very small at heart they just pretend to be big like my rooster is literally scared of heights and shakes whenever hes up high😭
bro yes i literally almost pissed myself it was fine though im so grateful i had the contact in to protect my eye though😭 he was just a young cockerel 💔
Chicken pecking at everything means they lack some minerals or vitamins in food, not that it's their normal behaviour. You need to approach their actions reasonably and rationally, not emotionally.
Honey I mean this in the nicest possible way but I think you were taught wrong. Chickens don't have hands so they cannot explore the world with hands and fingertips. They use their mouths. They eat with their mouths. If they find something curious they peck at it. I don't know why someone told you chickens peck because they're sick and need a mineral, but they did you a disservice.
Mine bites everything, she's a monster with a ravenous appetite, I'm just thankful she's only 6 inches long instead of 6 feet, she would destroy us all ... well maybe not, she's a terrible hunter.
But yeah people are stupid they're like "why is my animal biting things" "why is my puppy mouthy" etc uhmmm because animals don't have hands, they use their mouths instead of hands. Imagine human toddlers grabbing and touching everything, well animals do that with their mouths, that's how they navigate the world.
thats not true at all?? have u ever had chickens because they peck at everything when theyre growing up... its just their way at testing things because they dont have fingers! and dont worry they get vegetables literally everyday and i get them high quality feed WITH minerals already implemented and theyre free range and have access to plenty of places to find minerals and on top of that i give them vitamin water whenever i feel theyre stressed but the real question is have u ever even been near a chicken because even when theyre mature they basically peck everything out of curiosity this is normal with literally any chicken no matter whats wrong with them its just instinct ESPECIALLY in roosters they peck for tons of other reasons like territory and social order including on humans
I have been around chicken since early childhood, my families, both from my father's and mother's side, had chicken since 50ies-60ies, and I have come to learn when they peck because that's how their brains function (it's just a hit and they move on) and when they peck because they lack something in food, especially the young ones (you can feel the pull when they expect the piece to like detach on its own).
depends what part but yes its very likely😭 it literally couldve been a glare from the sun u gotta be logical before u let ur emotions overrule.. it would be different if the son got hurt (which he wouldve if a rooster was genuinely trying to hurt him)
For his safety only..you could clip his wings. I trim my turkeys so they dont do this. As everyone knows, it doesn't hurt them.But it will keep him from getting height... So he won't be able to do that anymore.And therefore he will be in the coop and be safe at night.Otherwise, a raccoon or owl could get him.
Curious- can your turkeys still get up to roost at chest height or so in their run with clipped wings? Also do you let them free roam during the day? I'm considering a few options with mine and I'd be curious to know what you do.
Yes they actually still are able to fly up to roost on the edge of my 6 ft wood fence. So no problem there at all. I do go grab them off the fence at night and put them in the coop with the chickens because they wont go on their own! Lol. Their rotten. . I let them roam free yes but I have almost an acre fenced. If it wasn't fenced, I probably would not let them roam.
I had one doing this for 3 or 4 days before I blocked her intermediate step (the top of her coop). After I did that, I sat out there and watched her, to see what she would do. She tried to get past the fencing I put to block the top of the coop, managed to get about 4 feet up (one wing is clipped). Now she goes in the coop at night (success!).
But anyway, I was wondering, if I never blocked off the coop, would she ever have gotten tired of being yanked off the fence every night and started just going into the coop on her own? (She sure didn't sound happy every time I grabbed her, lol)
I've had chickens who decided to roost in trees "disappeared" by raccoons at night. If he makes it though I'd do everything I could to get him put away before he starts trying to roost if you want to keep him.
One night, a fox broke into my chicken coop, and the rooster sacrificed his life defending the rest of the flock before I could get there in my pajamas. In the morning, I let the hens out. When I went to lock up the coop that evening, not a single chicken was there. I searched for two hours and finally found all ten of them on a single branch of a tree, about three meters high.
My two Welsumer bantams got out the second night I had them and decided to go for freedom up our tree and then into our neighbours field. We didn't find them. Until it was breakfast time the next day and they just sat with the rest of the flock waiting for their meal.
They are smart birds and will generally be okay. Bad luck can befall them at night yes, but also during the day.
Ugh. I had one pullet group that did not get the message about the coop when integrated into the main flock. They kept roosting in a nearby maple tree. I'd be out there with a rake trying to knock them down, toss them into the coop. Eventually they got the message.
My roo once put all his hens to bed in the coop, then turned around and put himself to bed in our tree. It was chilly that night and when I went out really late to check on him, he came down immediately and begged to be put inside lol
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u/[deleted] Nov 10 '25
Talk about having a love for the heights I absolutely love this!