My Chickens roosting on the roof at night

[yayagoldie]

Our 6 lovely red sex link girls ordinarily and naturally went inside coop to roost at night. Several weeks ago 1 chicken decided to squash herself onto the coop roof. We put her inside and closed the door. Next time, there were 2 chickens on the roof. We put them in and closed the door. Finally, last night 4 girls were up on the small slanty roof at dark. So we put them in and I ask you, "What is going on?"

 

[Jesusfreak101]

No clue mine have been doing this as well expect they roost on top of a old box tailer my husband parked next to the coop.

 

[Mutt Farm]

Hi! Welcome!

I have no clue. One of mine started on a roost before deciding that the top of the 10 ft stall was better. The others followed. I had to hang bags so they couldn't get up there. They like to roost as high as they possibly can. Is the roost inside high enough for them? This might just look like a safer spot to them. You may need to block it off until they change their monkey see monkey do minds.
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[aart]

Our 6 lovely red sex link girls ordinarily and naturally went inside coop to roost at night. Several weeks ago 1 chicken decided to squash herself onto the coop roof. We put her inside and closed the door. Next time, there were 2 chickens on the roof. We put them in and closed the door. Finally, last night 4 girls were up on the small slanty roof at dark. So we put them in and I ask you, "What is going on?"

Welcome to BYC.

That's a nice looking coop and run.
Is the roof mesh pretty close the very top of coop...is that where they are roosting?

You need to look at why they are choosing that spot instead of inside the coop all of a sudden.
Is it too hot and/or stuffy in there? .....look at your ventilation.
How big is your coop(feet by feet)? and how many birds do you have?
Do you have enough roost space? .....about 1 foot per bird works best.
Any pests in coop, mites maybe?
Have there been any recent changes or events....new birds, predators, illness, coop remodeling?

Pics of inside of coop might help us discover an issue.

 

[yayagoldie]

thanks for your comments and suggestions. We did change the roosts, but this did not seem to please our girls. We tried placing a few on roost and 2 more joined. Last chicken unable to reach roost. Too high perhaps. We finally decided to let them sleep on the roof. Hopefully, once the weather changes, they will decide to sleep inside. I'm working on a roosting solution ...

 

[DanEP]

It's best to break them of that habit right now. You may have to string wire fencing up to block access but if you let them roost there for a month it will be very hard to get them to stop. Once the habit is formed they will resist change.I'd finish the changes to the roosts and lock them in the coop for a couple of days for retraining. I had 7 leghorns that after about 6 months decided that they should sleep in tree's, after a 3 day lock down they went back to the coop every night from then on.

 

[aart]

thanks for your comments and suggestions. We did change the roosts, but this did not seem to please our girls. We tried placing a few on roost and 2 more joined. Last chicken unable to reach roost. Too high perhaps. We finally decided to let them sleep on the roof. Hopefully, once the weather changes, they will decide to sleep inside. I'm working on a roosting solution ...
You'll have to 'help' them decide...the longer you wait.....

Quote:
Excellent Points!

 

[Zeeb]

My hens prefer to sleep ontop of their hen house also. I just let them go they like being up there perhaps they feel safer. When I trim their wings so they don't fly over my fence, they get upset in the evening cause they can't fly up to the top. I felt bad and put a "step ladder" of sorts. They hop/fly on top of the ladder and then are able to hop onto the roof.