[DalesFarmer]

Hi there, Just wondered if anyone else had purchased a hen coop from Smith’s Sectional Buildings? We had the Haywood 50 bird - only 24 birds in it for space for them but we’ve now lost two of them having got their heads stuck downwards through the perch at night. It’s so upsetting - one Barnvelder and one Orpington. We’re really concerned and wondering if the flat perch idea is not so good. Does anyone else have experience of this please? Should we be changing our flat perch to one which is more like a step ladder effect? My husband thinks it’s a design flaw as he’s kept lots of hens previously and never had this happen.
Thanks so much
Giannina

[harmony]

Don't know the building but if you have had deaths and you think there is a design flaw change it before you have another.

[chrismahon]

I've looked on the site and have seen a slatted arrangement with a droppings board underneath. I can't see how a chicken would get their head stuck- perhaps they died before and their head fell through? It's not a good design. The bars are too narrow and will get covered in poo. I can imagine feet getting stuck between them. Perhaps change to two or three 3" or 4" wide perches. Add an intermediate step as they look too high anyway, certainly for Orpingtons. How do they get to the top row of nest boxes?

[Perris]

As you are at 50% capacity, you could remove every other slat to prevent this happening again while you wait for the company to respond.

[DalesFarmer]

Thanks for replies. We’re about to remove the flat perch now and do something temporary but safe until my husband can build a new (better) perch. It’s so upsetting as they were just lovely hens. Appreciate the advice and if anyone else has bought one of these coops at vast expense I might add, I’d suggest thinking very carefully about your needs prior to purchase.

[Eve]

It doesn’t make any sense that your chickens would die from getting their heads stuck between the perches, why would they stick their heads between the slats in the first place? We use flat perches with dropping trays underneath, have done so for many years just like thousands of other poultry keepers. I can’t imagine the flat perches are the cause of those hens’ deaths, there’s just no reason for a bird to stick its head all the way below its perch when going to sleep, if anything would get stuck it’d be a leg.
It’s probably just coincidence that they died and their bodies dropped in such a way that their heads ended up between perches.


Always sad to lose birds, especially the sociable ones. 

[DalesFarmer]

Yes I know what you mean, it is hard to tell exactly but we’ve lost two birds in what appears to be the same way. We have a mix of sized hens - no bantams but our Croad Langshan hens are large, sweet, a bit clumsy and I’ve seen them tread on the others so she may have been sat on too. Either way, my husband is constructing a different perch system as we speak which we believe will be much safer for all of them. At least if one sits on another they’ll just drop off and not kill each other. Who knows... Hens can surprise us all the time can’t they?

[Perris]

there’s just no reason for a bird to stick its head all the way below its perch when going to sleep

Having had a few temporarily sleeping on a perch in a dog crate in the (glass) porch because of injury or illness, I have seen two different birds sleeping with their heads dropped below the perch, so it can and does happen.