Access to perches is essential for laying hens to express natural roosting behavior, reduce aggression, and maintain bone density through the loading exercise that wire and slatted floors cannot provide.
Laying hens are strongly motivated to roost on elevated surfaces, and preventing this behavior through cage housing creates chronic frustration. Perch access in cage-free systems restores this behavioral freedom but introduces keel bone fracture risk when perches are poorly designed or placed too high. The welfare challenge is to provide perching that enables natural behavior without causing injury on landing. Evidence-based perch design guidelines including appropriate height, surface texture, and spacing reduce fracture rates while maintaining behavioral benefits. Early life training to use perches improves lifetime adoption and reduces the panic landings that cause most fractures. System designers who integrate welfare science into aviary design produce measurably better outcomes for both behavior and bone health.