roosting

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Royal Chick

Royal Chick

Hatching
Oct 20, 2015
4
0
7
At what age do the chicks stop cuddling together on the coop floor which is cement with pine shavings and begin to sleep on the roosting bars that we put in for them?
 
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Honestly, I can't remember when mine started to roost but I am thinking it was somewhere between 2-4 months. However, it can greatly depend on the breed, as well as the height of the roosts and the number of chickens roosting compared to the amount of roost space you have. For example, some birds like Silkies are not great fliers and will have a hard time getting to an average height roost. For general large breed birds, roosts should be less than 3' high and you should plan to provide about 1' of roost space per bird even though they only take up about 8" each.
 
welcome-byc.gif


We put a wooden bar on small blocks while the girls were still in their brooder and they were up & down off that "mini roost" all day long like it was some sort of playground equipment, lol. We moved them out to their big coop when they were around 8 weeks old and they knew immediately what to do with the "grown up" size roost.

trailrider gave you some good info on the roosts...also make sure you're giving a flat surface for them to sit on (like a 2x4 with the wide side down for them to roost on).

Thanks for joining us!
 
Chickens don't grasp the roost like a wild bird would. They prefer to have their feet out flat - they can lay their head on them- to warm them in cold weather.
 
Welcome to BYC. Glad you decided to join our flock. The other members have done a good job answering your questions so I'll just say, "If you haven't done so already, definitely check out our Learning Center at https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/1/Learning_Center. There is lots of useful information there. Please feel free to ask any other questions you may have. We are here to help in any way we can. Cheers."
 
Thanks for all the great input it only took about 4 nights of going out in the dark and placing them on the roosting bars until they got it all 21 of them such smart girls!
 

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