At what age do they begin to roost at night?

[sreihart]

My 10 BO and 5 GLW chicks will be 9 weeks old tomorrow. My coop isn't completed yet so I built an 8x8x5' pen for them to stay in until the coop is finished. It has old lawnmower wheels on it so it can be moved around. I guess you'd call it a tractor of sorts. (thanks lildinkem for your help and answering my questions!) At evening when they should be going to roost, they all pile on top of each other in a corner and they're there until morning. I have two roost poles set up for them and they sit on them during the rest of the day, but at night they go to the corner. I'm afraid a coon will show up and reach through and rip someone's head off before they know what hit them. My wire is 1x1 but still big enough for a determined coon to get his paw through. Any suggestions on how to teach them to roost at night?

 

[roosterdog]

Well I sat in the coop for three evenings and put them on the roost. They wanted to roost on me, so I would hold them until they went to sleep then put them on the roost. I know Crazy Lady!!!!!

 

[Littletonchicks]

Well I have good news to report. DH checked on the girls all day long hoping that just maybe she would come back. About 4:00 P.M. he went down and did a head count and all 14 were there! I think the dog got her and dropped her or he just chased her into the woods and then he got scared away by my son. She must have been scared to death and just stayed still and quiet until this afternoon or she found her way back. Whatever happened, she is back and is safe and healthy! I went out tonight about 8:00 (the time the neighbor dog came last night) and just as I stepped off the steps there he was about 10 feet from the run!!! I chased him, my black lab chased him and my yellow lab chased him. If he comes back again tomorrow, something else may be chasing him.

 

[kateseidel]

I have great neighbors - really great. But they recently got two dogs. Last weekend, the dogs ended up on our property three times, and we took them back over each time. The neighbors called later to apologize, and all was well, but I was not kidding when I told him "not to worry, next time I will shoot them and the problem will be solved." I suspect he does not think we are quite as good a neighbor...

 

[RM44]

Some of mine have been roosting off and on since 2-3 weeks old, but we put roosts in there for them from the time they were day olds. Most of the girls didn't start roosting until 5-6 weeks old, but some as early as 2 weeks. I would think at 9 weeks that your girls should be roosting. Have you researched your roosting methods? What are you using for a roost? I used the narrow end of a 1x2 mounted about 6 inches off the floor when they were 2 weeks old. I switched to a 2x2 mounted about 1.5 feet from the ground when they were 5 weeks old. When they were about 10 weeks old and we moved them outside I switched to a permanent flat edge of a 2x4 (wide part parallel to the ground) mounted 4 feet high. I suspect either your roosting material isn't comfortable or it's too high for them maybe?

 

[SmittenChicken]

Mine would play on the roosts but sleep on the floor in a big pigpile until they were about 6-8 weeks old. I was a little late in putting them to bed one night and got really freaked out when I didn't see anyone in the run or inside the coop - then I turned the corner and found them all up on the roost!

 

[ChksontheRun]

Mine didn't roost till about 3 weeks after I put them in their pen and coop(10 weeks ish). It just seemed to take them a while to figure it out. For 3 weeks I kept wondering if my chickens were a little "slow" compared to everyone else's chickens till one night.....there they were on the roost, all by themselves. I was so proud.

 

[Littletonchicks]

Mine are eight weeks and they have been roosting for about two weeks now. I go down about 8:30 to close up the coop and they are all lined up on the very top roost (all 14 of them). I made a slanted roost with four 2 x 4 for them to roost on but they all line up on the very top roost. Silly girls.

 

[JOSEYWALES]

My experience has been that they are roosting @ 5 weeks or so. I did have trouble with some buff orpingtons that were used to having lights on. When I moved them to the new coop they were grouping in the corner at night, when I got around to adding a light they were up on the roost the next night. I guess they were scared of th dark.

 

[woodmort]

Quote:
Yeah, that's been my experience too. Young birds like to hop up on the roost because they can but sleep together in a pile. Then during their second/third month they discover they are better off sleeping up high.