2 week old chicks not using heating pad

[lingon]

We have 2 week old barred rocks in brooder in a 3-season room so it gets to 50-70F at day and down to 40-50F at night. They have wing feathers and start of tail feathers. For the last 3 days they haven't been under the heating pad ever during the day and at night the least feathered (she's about 5 days behind the other 2 though they're all the same age) goes under to sleep and the other two bomb/flap/jump around alarm chirping trying desperately to get out. It looks to me like they're trying to roost. They're in a big plastic bin so I was considering putting a wire hamster/guinea pig type cage on top of it with a roost in it. But they seem much too young to roost, and it's weird that their roosting instinct would be so strong, our other batch had to be put on their roost every night when they moved to the coop.

My question is: if I give them a high up roost, will they use it even if they're cold? Are they smart enough to go under the heating pad against their instinct to be high up? I'm worried about them freezing.

 

[ChickNanny13]

What setting do you have the heating pad on? The MHP could be too warm, are they able to exit front/back? Mine would end up sleeping on top of the MHP. Not sure it's a roosting issue, I've had 8wk olds that would perch but never roosted until alot older.
Have a pic of your set up?

 

[lingon]

I put it on low in the daytime and medium at night, mostly for the one that still snuggles in the warmest spot at night. They can exit rear and front. Right now one has head peeking out the front and one out the back. I’ll post a pic tomorrow. Thanks!

 

[SueT]

I had a batch of various breed chicks that all began roosting at 3 weeks. Their brooder was in a room that was in the 60's at night, and the roost was 1' high and they had to fly up to it.
They gave up their heat source and all began roosting. So I shut off the heat and they feathered out really fast. The heat was a ceramic heat emitter in a clamp light fixture and it only heated a small area under it. The roost was definitely not in a warm area. They did fine and are all grown hens now.

 

[lingon]

Here’s the chicks on top of the heating pad cave. The kids like to sprinkle food there for them.

And here’s a top view.


I raised the height of the cave a bit today, was wondering if it was too small. They can fit lying down but not standing up, I think.

 

[ChickNanny13]

Looks fine, the height should be so that their backs can touch the pad. I start mine off at their height (2") standing, figure body heat. When they're about a month I raise it 3" - 4" by then most are preferring going on top ...

 

[lingon]

I put a very thin dark blue blanket over their brooder when they started getting crazy tonight and they settled right down. Now that it’s fully dark I took it off and they peeked out a bit and twittered but stayed settled under the MHP. So much nicer than the craziness yesterday.