Chickens are in the coop on the roost and they are trying to stand on eachother

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milkiewiczj

milkiewiczj

In the Brooder
5 Years
May 20, 2014
15
0
22
I have just put up the roosts in my chicken coop this week. The chickens are about 12 weeks old now and have been in the coop for 3 or 4 weeks now. I went out to let them in tonight and they are all on the roost and they are trying to walk over each other and they are standing on each others neck. Why are they doing this? Is there something wrong with them? It's 68 degrees out, so I don't think they are cold, but I could be wrong. Does anyone know why they are doing this? I don't want them to kill each other.
 
They are just figuring out how and where to roost, pretty normal.

Do you have at least a foot of roost length for each bird?
They may not fill the roost when sleeping, but need some room to get settled.
 
Well I have two roosts about 6 foot long. But they were trying to all fit in the top one. None of them wanted the lower one.
 
milkiewiczj said:
Well I have two roosts about 6 foot long. But they were trying to all fit in the top one. None of them wanted the lower one.
Click to expand...

Yep, highest roost spot is the best........ top hen and/or rooster will get the best spot, they'll figure it out.
How many birds do you have?
 
Alright. Maybe I'll make a 3rd then. But they didn't even want to use the second one
 
I have my roosts all at the same height to avoid this, but there are still 'better' places that they squabble over every night.
Give them time, the roosts are new to them and it takes time for them to figure out how it will go.
Any change often takes at least a week for them to get used to.
 

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